


Antihero: Memento Vitae

by YeahWay



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:13:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YeahWay/pseuds/YeahWay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by "How Not To Play Persona 3". Trapped in a cycle of failure, Makoto Yuuki has no choice but to reject the Contract and the power of the Wild Card in order to obtain the power he needs to create a future of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Desperation Attempt

**Author's Note:**

> So, I thought of this when I saw a parody comic strip called ‘How Not To Play Persona 3’. (Here’s a link, http://ancret.deviantart.com/art/How-Not-to-Play-Persona-3-167314327) It surprised me when I found that this hadn’t been done before, though I admit it will be quite difficult and I can only hope this turns out well. That said, it’ll be very helpful to get input from all of you, so please review and don’t be afraid of letting me know what you think I should do or what you think I’ve done wrong and I won’t hesitate to go back and fix it to the best of my ability. With that, I’ll get to the actual story, ‘Antihero.’

How long had he been here? At this stage, Makoto would estimate at around a thousand years. The figure didn’t come from any legitimate calculations; it was just what it felt like. He had once regretted not keeping count from the start, but by now he probably didn’t want to know the real answer even if knowing would make no difference. He knew there was nothing he could do now, he knew he’d long gone past the point of no return and he was fine with that… wasn’t he? No, he didn’t want this; why would he want this? He had every right to be unhappy with this fate. If he could go back he’d… What would he do? Would he really do anything different, and risk the lives of everyone he knew? But could he really do the same all over again? Now that he truly understood what would happen to him, the horrors to which he’d be subjected, could he seriously accept such torture willingly? He’d have to, he once thought; doing otherwise would just mean dying anyway. But perhaps dying was better than this. What if the fall really was a good thing? What did Makoto know about the world when he’d saved it? Nothing, and now he’ll never know. He’ll never be sure if what he did was the right thing, if his friends really were happy, if his sacrifice was worth it…  
These thoughts only made his situation worse. He was going insane. All the pointless ‘What If’s were his only escape from the prison of his own ‘body’. If he lost concentration on his thoughts for even a split second, he’d feel the never-ending attacks of Erebus on him again. The only choice he ever had and would ever have to make for perhaps eternity was whether he wanted physical pain or emotional pain. Every now and then, he would have enough of one and switch to the other, being driven more and more insane as time moved on. Maybe he was already insane, or was on the brink of insanity. If it’d offer a reprieve from this hell, he’d gladly welcome it. He’d do anything just to get out… get out! GET OUT!  
He couldn’t take it anymore! He’d had enough! He wanted OUT! Why!? Why him!? Why did those damn shadows have to do this!? Why did that fucking Kirijo bastard have to start all this!? Why the hell did Aigis have to put death into HIM 10 years ago!? Or a thousand years ago!? However fucking long it’d been, he didn’t fucking care he just wanted it to STOP!!!  
“Oh? How badly?” he heard from nowhere.  
So this was it; he really HAD gone insane. He was right about the pain stopping. If only madness had claimed him sooner.  
“You’re not insane,” the voice told him.  
Oh yes he was. No one could talk to him here; no one had ever talked to him here. He couldn’t see nor hear, only feel, and the only thing he ever felt was Erebus’ fist.  
“Maybe if you try opening your eyes?” the voice suggested, starting to sound fed up.  
Eyes? He couldn’t open his eyes; he didn’t have any! He was nothing but stone: an inanimate object holding a door closed…  
He opened his eyes…  
He had eyes! He had a body! He looked all over himself, taking in every centimetre of himself, seeing, touching and smelling. He wanted to enjoy every second of this hallucination, praying for it not to end.  
“Ahem,” the voice cleared its throat, having been completely forgotten by the distracted and delighted Makoto.  
Makoto looked up, finally realising that he wasn’t alone. He appeared to be floating: an experience to which he’d grown accustomed. Before him floated… something. It looked humanoid, only it had bat-like wings and was lacking a face. It also wore a gold crown atop its head, which was featureless except for a ring of spikes which seemed to be holding the crown up.  
“Finally have your attention, I see,” it remarked, sounding much more pleased now, “Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Nyarlathotep, and I’ve come to grant your wish.”  
…Lies. There was no escape; Makoto was doomed to remain here. He could NOT be saved.  
“Oh, but you can, boy,” it informed, “It would be rather simple to let you free, in fact.” It sounded like it was having fun.  
Makoto remained still. He couldn’t accept this: his existence as the seal had become all that he knew. He had to stay there! It was important! Otherwise…  
Why was he here? To stop Erebus from reaching Nyx!!! How could he forget that!? What was happening?  
“Hmmhmm, unsure of the situation? Let me remind you,” it chuckled.  
Without warning, it all came back to him. The beating, the pounding, the clawing, no!  
“Take me back!” Makoto screamed, suddenly back in front of the black bat-thing.  
“Ah, so we’ve found our voice? Perhaps now you’re ready to negotiate an agreement?” it asked.  
“Yes,” Makoto answered, panting. He hadn’t felt air rushing into his lungs in such a long time, even that was incredible.  
“As I said before, I am here to grant your wish to be set free,” it reminded, “You are unhappy with what has become of your fate and want to change it, am I right?”  
“Yes,” he answered immediately.  
The being, Nyarlathotep, laughed, “Excellent! Now, let us discuss the terms of our arrangement…”

That was long ago. Fifty-six years ago, from Makoto’s perspective. For it had been his fifty-sixth failed attempt at improving the past. Once again, he transformed into the Great Seal and once again, he was immediately brought before Nyarlathotep in the empty nowhere that was their meeting place.  
“Remind me what you tried that time?” Nyarlathotep enquired, referring to Makoto’s plan for that cycle.  
“Tried to find that thing you keep telling me about,” Makoto responded, referring to what Nyarlathotep had called ‘The only way’ amongst other things, “As you can see, I didn’t find it…” he muttered bitterly.  
“Indeed,” Nyarlathotep chuckled. “It’s still so amusing watching you obsess over it like you did at the start. You’re even more dedicated now that you’ve started to grow tired of your friends,” he pointed out, laughing cruelly. Makoto was used to that cruelty; he had to endure it every time he failed.  
“If it weren’t for your damn rules making it so repetitive, I wouldn’t be,” Makoto informed, glaring at his ‘saviour’. “Anyway, I think we’ve already had this exact conversation a couple of tries ago. Can we move on?”  
“So quick to lose interest, yet so scared to let things go. I do wonder why you mortals are like that,” Nyarlathotep teased. “So tell me, Makoto, what entertainment have you planned for me next?” he asked, excitement in his voice.  
“I don’t know,” Makoto told him. He had said this before, but eventually, Nyarlathotep would send him back anyway, and being sent without a plan was always an even more horrible experience.  
“Oh come now, there are plenty of things you haven’t tried yet!” Nyarlathotep scolded playfully.  
“Like what?”  
“Now now, what’s rule #20?”  
“You can’t help me between cycles,” Makoto replied right away. He knew the contract he’d signed with Nyarlathotep backwards by now. He’d spent an immeasurable amount of time negotiating it with him, making absolutely sure that there was nothing of which he wasn’t aware or with which he was unwilling to agree. That didn’t mean there was a single part of it that he liked… “But that’s the god-damn problem! I can’t work with these rules, Nyarlathotep! I can’t think of anything else that won’t break them!”  
“You can. You’ve been saying you can’t for a long time and you always come up with something. Now come on, think,” he ordered.  
“I’ve thought and I’ve thought, but nothing’s worked! Rule #2: I have to kill all twelve arcana shadows! Rule #5: Anything other than preventing the fall myself will terminate the contract and restore everything back to how it was before signing it! Those two on their own are enough to make everything the exact same fucking thing every time! I can’t do it anymore! I can’t do anything without risking losing it all and… and…” he stopped, not bothering to finish the sentence and instead focusing on thinking.  
“Perhaps it’s time to do so? To risk complete failure.”  
“Shut up, you’re not allowed help me,” Makoto snapped.  
“It’s merely a suggestion. I don’t consider that helping and it’s my contract, so-“  
“It’s OUR contract and I consider it helping, so shut up,” he barked.  
“Very well,” he conceded, sounding highly-amused.  
Makoto sighed and muttered “One thing…”  
“What’s that?”  
“There’s one thing I haven’t tried, but…”  
“Yes?” Nyarlathotep encouraged, starting to get very excited.  
“If it doesn’t work, I know it’ll be my last shot,” Makoto told him, sounding miserable.  
“Go on, tell me. I’m dying to know!”  
“What if I do it all on my own?” Makoto proposed.  
“Meaning?”  
“It’d change everything. No contract, no velvet room, no social links.”  
“Now THAT’S different!” Nyarlathotep praised, laughing heartily. “And why, pray tell, would that work?” he asked with great intrigue.  
“There’s no reason other than the fact that that I haven’t tried it yet,” Makoto said, sounding more confident.  
“This is why I chose you, boy! This is what I came for! Very well!” Nyarlathotep started, rising up above Makoto, hands aglow, “Do you understand the rules of the contract?” he recited as he did every time he sent Makoto back to the past.  
“Yes,” Makoto answered, with more feeling than he had in a long time. Wind had started to pick up and swirl around them, energy flowing towards Nyarlathotep.  
“Do you understand the penalty for breaking these rules?”  
“Yes.” Immediate restart, with two warnings for minor offences.  
“Are you ready to begin?”  
“Yes.”  
“One more thing…” Nyarlathotep called: something that hadn’t happened before. He looked at Makoto for a few seconds. Had he a face, Makoto was sure it’d be smiling. “Do you choose this fate of your own free will?”  
Makoto knew what Nyarlathotep was doing: he was psyching him up. He was just as excited about this as he was, so he answered readily. “NO!!!”  
“That’s what I like to hear! Go forth, Makoto! Prove destiny wrong and show the gods what you can really do!” Nyarlathotep roared before firing a beam at Makoto’s feet. As the portal opened, Makoto felt he had to say one more thing.  
“Nyarlathotep!” he called, feeling the familiar sensation of disintegrating from the feet up.  
“What is it boy?”  
Makoto smiled a somewhat sad smile at the demon. One way of the other, this would like be the last time they meet. “Thank you, for everything…”  
“The next stop is Iwatodai, Iwatodai.” The dull voice of the intercom was the first thing of which Makoto became aware after coming back. Now that he was here again, Makoto’s mood already dropped to a staggering low. But unlike the last few times, he was filled with determination, motivation, something that told him to keep going and see this thing through rather than let it keep him down until it ended, and shortly began again.  
He quickly moved his hand to turn off his mp3 player, which was blasting out the sounds of ‘Burn My Dread.’ The beat came to a sudden halt and Minato took off his earphones, quietly muttering “I fucking hate that song.”  
The train stopped at the station and Makoto moved quickly to get out. He walked with a rather grim face, thinking of nothing other than what he was about to do and the consequences that would follow. ‘It must be done,’ he told himself. He was sick of this repetition, so sick it had driven him to something completely irrational and doomed to fail. But that was what he’d thought when going up to fight Nyx for the first time: that it was stupid and hopeless. And just like back then, he spat in the face of that fear and pushed on. 

He reached the dorm, now well into the dark hour, and opened the door, immediately walking towards the counter where Pharos, as always, sat waiting for him.  
“You’re late,” Pharos told him, like always. Nothing Pharos said was registered by Makoto until he produced the contract and placed it in front of him.  
This was it, the moment of truth. Makoto flicked open the contract, holding the pen in his right hand and read it just one last time before he would give the middle finger to Pharos, Igor, Elizabeth and fate itself.  
Makoto placed the pen down on the signature line, understandably hesitant to follow through with it, before clenching his teeth and scraping the pen hard down the page.  
“Huh?” Pharos reacted.  
Makoto grasped the page and tore it out of the small cover before ripping it to shreds and tossing the fragments behind.  
“No! W-what have you done!?” Pharos yelled at him.  
“What I should have done a long, long time ago,” Makoto replied with pure venom in every syllable, “I’ll make my own future this time.”  
Pharos stood there, agasp, before fading into shadow as the dark hour drew to a close.


	2. A Good, Horrible Start

“Who’s there!?” Makoto heard from his right.  
‘So it begins…’ he thought sarcastically, turning to face the panicking Yukari. She was panting quite heavily and likely sweating, though it was hard to tell; the lights were always left off when he first arrived for some reason. Makoto watched her with a cold, calm stare, knowing full-well that nothing would happen to him.  
Yukari reached for her gun. “Takeba, wait!” shouted Mitsuru from behind her. The lights suddenly switched on, making it much easier to see the two. Yukari was looking very relieved whilst Mitsuru kept a plain expression.   
The two walked up to Makoto; Yukari was the first to speak up. “Who’s he?”  
“A transfer student, it was a last-“  
“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but could one of you tell me where my room is?” he butted in, not interested in something through which he’d already gone many times. The two looked a bit surprised at his interjection. “I’m so tired, I thought I saw these weird things all over the street and everything looked darker than usual,” he explained, hoping to speed things along and establish his being able to experience the dark hour.  
“Oh… very well. Yukari, could you show him?” Mitsuru asked, quickly regaining her composure.  
“Uh sure, yeah,” she responded, walking over to the area behind the counter and fetching a key before leading Makoto upstairs. They reached the door at the end of the hall and Yukari handed Makoto his key. “Here it is, pretty easy to remember since it’s at the end of the hall.”  
“Yeah. Well, night,” Makoto curtly spoke before entering his room and quickly shutting the door behind him.  
Yukari stood still for a moment, staring at the door he’d just closed for a moment with her mouth open before eventually walking away, looking behind her. ‘That was kinda rude…’  
Makoto leaned back on his door, listening to Yukari’s footsteps as she walked away until he no longer could. He breathed a heavy sigh and walked to his bed. He fell onto it, not bothering to change or pull the blanket over him, and just closed his eyes. It was time to think about this…

Morning arrived far too soon for him. He’d been up far too long for his own good, yet couldn’t fall asleep now, even though he was trying as hard as he could. He heard a knock on his door.  
“Hey it’s me, are you awake?” she asked. Makoto noted that she usually would say ‘It’s Yukari’, but they hadn’t even exchanged names last night, which was a good thing.  
Makoto decided to ignore her and stay in his bed. “Hey, come on. Mitsuru told me to get you; you’ll be late.  
“I’m not ready,” he moaned, face buried in his pillow.  
“Well will you be ready soon?”  
“No. Go on without me, I can get there myself,” he told her. She said nothing back right away.  
Just as Makoto was falling out of consciousness, she spoke up again, “Fine, not my fault if you get in trouble,” she warned, with an irritated tone.  
Makoto relaxed as he listened to the sound of her retreating footsteps once more and fell asleep.

He was late. He stood in the train, only now putting on his blazer, with a piece of toast in his mouth, thankful that there weren’t any other passenger on-board the car in which he was travelling. A few minutes later, the train reached its destination and Makoto took off to the school. There was fortunately an assembly that morning; if he could get there not too long after it ended, he could make an excuse and get away with it. If not, he’d have to pull the ‘got lost’ card and hope she didn’t know that he was born here.  
He reached his classroom and caught his breath before opening the door and walking in. Class had already started and Ms Toriumi seemed to have already written a fair amount on the board. ‘I suppose I got lost, then.’  
Ms Toriumi turned towards him; “Oh, are you the transfer student?” she asked, getting the attention of the whole class, who pointed their heads at the door.  
“Yes,” Makoto answered, formally.  
“Why are you so late?”  
“I sort of got lost,” he lied, acting embarrassed.   
She looked at him for a while, but seemed to buy it. “Okay, well I guess you can sit… there, behind Yukari-chan,” she said, pointing to the empty desk he always got.  
He walked to the desk and sat down, ignoring the look Yukari was giving him. After the distraction, Ms Toriumi picked right back up from whence she started.   
Makoto was quick to let his head collapse onto his desk.  
After the bell rang, Makoto got up from his seat, mentally preparing himself for-  
“Suuuup dude?”  
-Junpei.  
“Hi,” he said back before walking right past him.  
“Uh, hey,” Junpei called to him before he got too far away.  
Makoto completely ignored him, walking right out of the classroom when another person tried to stop him. “Hey,” Yukari called for his attention in the hall, catching up to him and walking with him, “Listen, about last night, it’s important that you don’t tell anyone, okay?”   
“Alright,” he simply replied and then headed into the boys bathroom, where she couldn’t follow him.  
Once again, Yukari found herself staring at a door after he’d vanished. “This guy…” she muttered in frustration before striding off in a huff.  
Finally alone, Makoto decided to take a stroll and collect his still-scattered thoughts. Leaving the school, he knew exactly where he wanted to go.

He was now sitting on the edge of a pier, looking down on the deep-blue water as it swished around the posts holding the floor up. He liked coming here; he’d never been here before his deal with Nyarlathotep. That was why he liked it: it was somewhere different, somewhere that didn’t remind him of any event that took place on that year, somewhere that didn’t have any memories -good or bad- attached to it. That was the kind of place where he wanted to be. He’d already decided long ago that when this was over, he’d move somewhere far, far away from Port Island. Exactly where didn’t matter to him, as long as it wasn’t here.  
Taking in a big gulp of air, he closed his eyes and retreated to his mind, blocking all outside stimuli just like he did when he was the Great Seal. That didn’t seem like a long time ago at all: how could it when every year since then had been the same one? Too long had Makoto been stuck; he was determined to see the fourth of March. He would live to that day and much longer; he had to.  
All he needed was to find ‘The Way’. Nyarlathotep, during the negotiations, had told Makoto of something hidden that he could find if he did things right and that would give him the ability to stop Nyx without sacrifice. His wording, as well as several other hints he’d given, had convinced Makoto that ‘The Way’ was some kind of power that wasn’t the wild card or the universe arcana.   
If it could stop Nyx and they couldn’t, then obviously it was much more powerful. The only thing Makoto had to do was figure out how to get it. He’d first tried to find it in his world, researching occult stories extensively, and whilst that had given him plenty of ideas as to what the power might be, it didn’t help him find out how to obtain it.  
Next, he’d tried to find it in the dark hour. He’d made several attempts to communicate with the shadows, which had yielded no results. He’d then thought it might involve the reaper, and so had confronted it many times, nothing of importance happening. He’d then tried to find clues from the arcana shadows, which had been just as useless.  
Having nowhere left, he’d tried to find it in the velvet room. The velvet room was a mystery to him: Igor always said that the velvet room didn’t exist in reality, yet it and its residents seemed to reset along with the rest of the world. It didn’t make sense: Nyarlathotep, who also resided outside the universe, was obviously unaffected by his own resetting of time, so why were Igor and Elizabeth? It didn’t add up, but Rule #1 prevented him from telling anyone that he was from the future, so he couldn’t ask about it without making himself obvious. For now, he would have to assume they knew what was going on. He’d likely never find out now, anyway.  
All of this -and many other failed attempts- had led him to where he was now. This was his only theory left: that either the power of the wild card, or the contract, or both were somehow getting in his way. It didn’t make perfect sense, but it was possible. Because of that, he thought that by not signing the contract and not growing his powers, he might finally be able to do it. Every time he went back, he was left with just Orpheus -And technically Thanatos, due to Death’s presence in his soul-. To get the other personae back, he would have to unlock, earn and fuse them with the power of his social links, therefore, forming no social links meant having no other personae.   
Makoto believed this would work: he had to. He had nothing else to believe in, other than the existence of a future for him. That was the goal for which he was striving: a life that had nothing to do with any of this. Nothing from 2007, or the start of 2008; everything would be brand new, including himself. What would the past Makoto think of his future self? Would he call him selfish? That was quite likely, and perhaps he was, but he was fine with that. Saving everyone else wasn’t enough for him: he wanted to save himself too.

Makoto arrived quite late to the dorm. Mitsuru was the only one in the lounge when he arrived; she didn’t seem bothered by how long he’d been, simply giving him a “Welcome back” before returning to her reading.  
Makoto appreciated this and walked up to his room without a word.  
Later that night, Akihiko, who’d come in even later than Makoto stood up from the couch after having quickly finished a cup ramen.   
“I’m going out for a bit,” he told Mitsuru, who was still sat there.  
“Hm?” Misturu responded, her mind having been taken out of her book.   
“Haven’t you read the newspaper?” he asked, “There’s a lot going on.”  
“I know… people with no prior symptoms are suddenly developing acute cases of apathy syndrome... It’s been in the news quite a lot lately,” she said sadly. “They’re saying it’s due to stress but…”  
“Heh, yeah right. It has to be them, otherwise it’s not worth my time,” he boasted with a smirk.  
“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?” she asked concernedly, “I’m sure it’ll be alright if I…”  
“Don’t worry, I’m just getting some practice in,” he said to help her relax. It had the opposite effect.  
Without another word, Akihiko strolled confidently out of the dorm.  
Mitsuru sighed, “You have to take this more seriously, Akihiko… please.”

School once again served no purpose other than allowing Makoto some extra sleep. By now, he could afford to pay no attention in class for the whole year without getting lower than an A grade. Beside him, Junpei was struggling with a question Ms Toriumi had asked him. In desperation, he looked at Makoto, silently pleading for help.   
“Eleven,” Makoto muttered before turning his head, resting on his arms, away from him.   
“Eleven!” Junpei answered confidently, eliciting a very angry scolding from the teacher, who had asked him who her favourite author was. The whole class laughed, whilst Junpei glared at the back of Makoto’s head. Yukari wasn’t pleased either.   
Makoto hurried out of the room as soon as the bell rang. Junpei watched him rush out. ‘Asshole running away after a stunt like that.’

Makoto wanted to get the next part of the day over with quickly, and so was fast in returning to the dorm. When he entered, he was greeted by a tall, long-haired, bespectacled man whom he knew all-too-well, Ikutsuki.   
“Why hello!” he exclaimed a bit excitedly. Already, Makoto had had enough of this man. He’d had enough of him more than fifty years ago, yet was forced to do nothing but wait for his inevitable betrayal and do whatever he wanted to ensure the bastard’s death: let himself get captured like the first time, pull a heroic rescue, kill Ikutsuki, et cetera.   
“My name is Shuji Ikutsuki; I’m the chairman of the board for your school.” Makoto took deep breaths and thought happy thoughts of places far away as he restrained himself. “’Ikutsuki’, heh, hard to say, isn’t it?” He went on and on as Makoto got more and more frustrated before he finally got to the point of this conversation. “Is there anything you might be wondering about?”  
“Not particularly,” he quickly responded.  
“Are you sure?” Ikutsuki asked, sounding surprised.  
“Yes, sorry I have a lot of homework and studying to do, so I’ll be off now,” he muttered, already moving to the stairs.  
Makoto, as gently as he could manage, slammed his door shut and let out a long breath he’d been holding in. Ikutsuki was very hard for him to tolerate: even more so than Ken and Shinjiro. Having taken a moment to calm himself, Makoto sat on his chair and let the rest of the day waste away until he felt fatigued enough to fall asleep.

Tonight was always the night on which Makoto, under the surveillance of Yukari, Mitsuru and Ikutsuki, would be brought to the velvet room in his dreams. Having no contract, the blue door stayed shut, out of his life; instead he was brought somewhere perhaps better, perhaps worse: the past.  
“HAHAHA! HAAAAAAHAHAHA!” The roaring laughter was terrible, despicable and at this moment of confusion frightening. Makoto looked all around him, disoriented yet feeling a great depression deep down in his heart: he knew what had happened; he just didn’t want to. “Surprised, boy?” asked the disgusting creature in front of him. Makoto remembered him well: he was the reason for all that had just happened, Nyarlathotep.   
Makoto was unable to say anything at this time, allowing Nyarlathotep’s taunts to attack him unimpeded. “You, you didn’t think you’d actually succeed on the first try did you!?” he asked, holding back more horrid cackles.  
About to speak now, Makoto was halted by another eruption of gleeful, yet painful laughter that would make even someone ignorant to what was so funny to him cry.   
“Shut up!” Makoto finally shouted, having had enough of this.  
“That’s all you’ve got to say!? You’re even more pathetic now than when I first saw you!” he jeered, letting loose a fresh burst of schadenfreude.   
How could this have happened? How!? Makoto had gone back, he’d been ready for everything! He’d fixed so much and it all amounted to nothing!   
“Send me back again! Now!” he ordered, tears flowing down his miserable face.  
“So desperate to leave? We’ve only just been reunited; would you not like to stay a little longer?” Nyarlathotep teased in a mock sad tone.   
“Send me back, send me back…” Makoto repeated, the demon’s laughter picking back up again at his breakdown.   
Those laughs echoed through his mind throughout the night…

Makoto spent the start of the following day with a miserable expression plastered onto his face. After school, he briskly strode to the pier, where he did nothing but look at his own reflection in the sparkling-blue water. His blank expressionless face warped in the shimmering sea, looking back at him in an intense, never ending staring contest.  
To his dismay, he would have to return to reality eventually: he had a mission to be completed.

It was now eleven o’clock; Makoto had a job to do. He was waiting for Akihiko on a street near Iwatodai station; he’d figured out in a previous cycle that Akihiko would be jogging tonight. At ten past eleven, he saw Akihiko running towards him. He waited for Akihiko to notice him, then walked into an alley.   
“Hey!” Akihiko called out to him. Mitsuru had told him that the new guy to their dorm could experience the dark hour, and he didn’t want him to be walking around outside during that time on his own. He followed him to the alley, which led to the other side of the block, and saw it was empty. He ran to the other side and saw Makoto rounding a corner across the street. Like last time, he called him and was ignored. He ran after Makoto, but lost track of him.  
After some searching, he found him again, much nearer by this time, ran up to him from behind and grabbed him by the shoulder.  
Makoto jumped and quickly turned around, taking of an earphone, which Akihiko could hear playing very loudly.  
Akihiko sighed, “What are you doing out here? It’s way past curfew,” Akihiko interrogated.  
“I could ask you the same thing,” Makoto said back to him.  
Akihiko frowned, but knew he had no response. “Come on, we gotta get back to the dorm; I was just on my way back anyway,” Akihiko told him, walking in the direction of the dorm with Makoto silently following.   
It hadn’t been much, but it would be enough to change events in his favour.  
The two got back just before midnight. Makoto knew to go straight to bed, whilst Akihiko stayed downstairs and waited until he heard Makoto’s door closing.  
“God damn it, all that extra running got me tired. I guess I’ll be a little more careful on patrol tonight…” he muttered to himself, before heading right back out of the dorm.

A few minutes later, Mitsuru, Yukari and Ikutsuki were watching Makoto with intrigue.  
“You were right; he’s still sleeping,” the chairman pointed out excitedly, “Even those with the potential tend to be unstable at first.”  
“But, we’re treating him like a guinea pig…” Yukari protested.  
“I understand how you might feel, but it’s important that we recruit new members. Besides, I was told he’s in the same year as you; would you not feel more comfortable having someone else your age on the team?” asked Ikutsuki.   
Yukari looked away, “Well, actually…” she started, but she decided not to finish.  
After a short silence, the machine in front of them began to beep. Mitsuru pressed a button and spoke, “Is that you, Akihiko?”  
“You guys aren’t gonna believe this; this thing is huge!” Akihiko exclaimed hushedly.  
“What is it, Akihiko?” enquired Ikutsuki, adopting a much more serious tone than usual.  
“It’s a shadow, but it’s not like anything we’ve seen before! It’s surrounded by the small ones too! I’m not sure if I should… Aw shit!” Suddenly, the speakers started blaring the staticky sound of air rushing past the microphone.   
“Akihiko? Akihiko!”  
“It knows I’m here!” he shouted, no longer keeping quiet, “It’s chasing me! I gotta come back to the dorm; there’s nowhere else safe!”   
“He’s bringing that thing here!?” Yukari screamed.  
Mitsuru stood up swiftly. “Mr Chairman!” she barked, facing Ikutsuki.  
“Y-yes, get ready for battle! Prepare quickly!”  
“How much time do we have, Akihiko? Are you far away?” Mitsuru said rapidly into the microphone.  
“No, I’ll be there in any second, just get ready!” he eventually responded, panting.  
“Yukari, get something for the transfer and bring him out the back door, now!” she ordered. Yukari nodded and quickly started to run off. “Akihiko and I will hold them off at the front!” she informed her before Yukari made it out of the room.  
Now alone, Mitsuru took a deep breath. “Mr Chairman, please wait here in the command room! I’ll wait for Akihiko outside the front entrance!”   
“Right! Good luck, Mitsuru!”   
Mitsuru then dashed out and down the stairs, grabbing her epee out of her room in a rush and running into and out of the lobby. She stopped just at the bottom of the stairs and waited eyes focused sharply on the horizon, beads of sweat dripping down her forehead as she clenched the grip of her weapon.

Yukari banged and pounded on Makoto’s door having finally found the spare sword kept for emergencies, which had been oddly moved somewhere else. Having already wasted far too much time, she was not willing to wait for him to wake up. She tried to open the door again, but it was securely locked. “Open up! Come on wake up!” she shouted furiously through the door. Finally, Makoto opened it, painfully-slowly.  
“Yes?” he said tiredly.  
“We have to get out of here! Right now!” Yukari shouted angrily.  
“Why? What’s going-“  
“Do I sound like I have time to explain!?” We need to go now!” she snapped, her voice getting more and more high-pitched, “Here, take this and come with me!” she ordered, pushing the sword into his chest.   
Makoto grabbed it and followed her downstairs. Just as they reached the bottom, they heard what sounded like a car crash outside.  
“Oh god, they’re here! Quick quick, come on!” she beckoned, sprinting to the back door. Once they got there, Yukari grabbed the handle and flung the door open to be greeted by countless mayas swarming the back alley. She screamed and promptly reshut the door. Before she could panic, she heard a loud beeping from her pocket.   
She answered it quickly. “Takeba, there are multiple shadows! The one we’re fighting isn’t the one Akihiko saw!” Mitsuru informed.  
Yukari looked around her before resting her gaze on Makoto. “L-let’s pull back! They’re gonna make it in soon!” She led him back to the stairs. “What’re we gonna do? They’re getting in!”   
“The roof? They couldn’t get up there, right?” Makoto suggested. Yukari looked at him, running the idea through her head before nodding in agreement and sprinting up the stairs. The pair ran up the floors before finally reaching the door to the roof.   
Opening it and stepping outside, Yukari was fast to shut the door and lock it behind them. “Phew… I think we’re okay for now…” she said exhaustedly.   
Then, they heard a noise behind them: a sickly squelching noise that got closer and closer to them. They looked behind them and saw the first hand reaching over the edge of the building.  
“What!?” Yukari squealed.  
Makoto felt it, that feeling he got every year: it was the feeling of something within his mind, something clawing at the inside of his skull, desperate to get out. Makoto shouted and fought back in his mind, resisting the feeling. Death snarled back at him, enraged by Makoto’s rebellion. Makoto ignored Death’s roars and forced all his will upon the shadow, pressing on it hard, back into the depths of his conscious.   
The Magician had now climbed up onto the roof, letting of the first garu spell as Yukari struggled in vain with her evoker.   
Death gave one last effort in escaping Makoto’s chains, but was no match for his command.   
The Magician threw one of its myriad blades at Yukari, making her fall to the floor and drop the evoker. Makoto was quick to pick it up, but hesitated. He stared at the evoker in his hands, fear beginning to well up in him. He had nothing right now; he was nothing like what he had been when this all started. There was nothing left of the person he’d once been.  
What if nothing came out when he pulled the trigger? Death was suppressed and the wild card discarded. Makoto’s mind wasn’t what it had been when he’d first summoned Orpheus. In fact, Makoto could tell since soon after he ripped up the contract that Orpheus had left him, so what would happen?   
Makoto suddenly became very aware of the shadow speeding towards him: he had to act fast but was terrified of what would happen if he did.  
“Fear not…” he heard in his mind. It was a voice he’d not once heard before. “I have come to aid thee. With mine help and thy will, you can obtain that which you desire.”   
Makoto wasted no time with this new presence in his mind. He raised his arm up and time seemed to slow. It slowed down to such a crawl that at first glance one would think it had stopped entirely.  
“Is, is this really what you want?” he heard the voice of Pharos. He was looking up at him with a sorrowful expression.  
“This is everything I want,” Makoto resolutely answered. Pharos looked down to the ground, beginning to sob, and nodded once, before fading away; he retreated to the dregs of Makoto’s psyche.  
Time flowed back at normal pace and Makoto moved swiftly. Raising his arm higher up, he suddenly released the evoker into the air. It flew back over his shoulder and hit the ground. Makoto shaped his raised hand into that of a gun and pointed the ‘barrel’ at his temple. With now-predatory eyes, much sharper looking than those of any teenager should be, he glared at his opponent and said calmly, almost sarcastically “Persona.”   
A fierce, blinding pillar of brilliant light shot out of the floor below him, completely engulfing him and blowing back the arcana shadow. From it burst forth Makoto’s new ally, his new weapon, ‘the way’.  
“From the dawn and dusk of time, I come to thee, who hath earnt the right to the future. Thou who art worthy of mine help, I am Janus, Harbinger of the New Beginning!” the being declared in a deafening volume; its voice that of both a young and old man.  
The light died down, revealing Janus’s form. It was completely covered in a silver suit of armour, whose front gleamed with a fine polish and was decorated along all its edges with elegant gold patterns. The condition of the armour worsened and worsened with the shine dulling and scratches and dents appearing the further it was towards the back. The armour’s most notable feature was the helmet, which had a round front with a visor with vertical slots through which to look, and another ‘front’ on the back, this one more pointed and having a visor with a single, horizontal slot. In Janus’s right hand, he held a massive, golden broadsword longer than Makoto was tall, and in his left he held and equally over-sized black rifle.   
Floating just above Makoto, reaching heights of over six metres, he stared down his opponent, the Magician, which was finally recovering from its knockdown. Taking some time to untangle its viscous arms, it got up on all its palms, and then pounced on the giant.   
Janus readied his sword then smacked the Magician with its side, knocking it back to whence it had leapt. The Magician recovered much faster this time, then charged towards them, but Janus wasted no time in swiping across it with his colossal blade. Half the Magician’s abominable body was cleanly sliced, but it wriggled with the same vigour and continued towards them. Janus lifted his great rifle up and opened fire on the abomination. The shadow flailed wildly until all its arms went limp after a lengthy barrage of high-calibre ammunition.   
Janus allowed himself to fall to the ground and stomped over to the pile of arms. Finding the mask, he stomped down hard on it, releasing putrid fluids all over the roof, which soon after evaporated.   
Yukari had watched all this unfold, and was completely speechless. She stared astonished at Makoto as he spectated the shadow’s destruction with a slight smirk. Makoto, as Janus began to take out the horde of mayas that had followed the Magician up the building, turned to her and with a smile said “Looks like I’m finally moving forward again Yukari.”


	3. Planning for a Future

10/4/2009  
“So, you ready to start giving an explanation?” Makoto sat on the bed in his room as a small, white, glowing orb drifted slowly around him.   
From it, he heard a reply: “As I told thee when I came to thine aid, my name is Janus.”  
“Roman god of time and such, yeah but why are you here now? It’s not that I’m ungrateful, but what did I do differently this time that made you come?”  
“It is as thou suspectest: thou no longer hast the power of persona; thus, I have come.”  
Makoto’s eyes widened in shock. “What are you talking about? Aren’t you my persona now?”  
Janus continued slowly orbiting Makoto, never showing any reaction to what Makoto said to him. “I am not a persona: I am what some persons would call a ‘god’; others may call me a daemon. Thine abilities have surpassed those of thy friends.”  
That last word left a sour taste in Makoto’s mouth; but he was more than capable of ignoring it, especially now, when there were much more pressing matters at hand. “Then, you’re not in my head? You’re real? How many things like you are there?”  
“Many,” Janus answered plainly; “Am I wrong in saying that thou hast encountered another like me before? And that thou art in a contract with them as thou art with me?”  
“A contract? Is that how this works?” Makoto enquired, ignoring the first question.  
“We are in an agreement whereby I am at thy service until thou no longer needest mine help.”  
Makoto took a moment to take all of this in and sort out the new information, before continuing his line of questioning. “I’ve one more question: why are you helping me?”  
Janus’s answer was calm, yet ominous: “What thou art trying to accomplish will affect much more than thine own life, Makoto Yuuki. I have foreseen this; and now that I am able, I will help thy cause will all my strength.”  
Makoto slowly nodded and smiled before replying. “That’s good enough for me.”

Meanwhile, S.E.E.S was discussing their latest member in the Command Room.  
“He’s agreed to help us. With this many members, it might be time to start exploring Tartarus,” proposed Mitsuru to the rest of the squad.   
“Alright, it’s about time,” responded Akihiko excitedly.  
“Whilst I admire your enthusiasm, I think it’d be best to wait for just a little longer,” said Ikutsuki.  
“Huh? Why!?”  
“I should want to… have more confidence in our new recruit when sending him on a mission with the rest of you,” answered Ikutsuki cautiously.  
All the members in the room made complicated faces after that remark. Surely, Makoto’s recruitment had been slightly unorthodox; and his demands unusually blunt.  
“I don’t want any special position; just let me work however I want and I’ll follow orders as best I can. And take that damn camera out of my room,” he had said.  
“Seriously, who does he think he is?” Yukari muttered under her breath as she looked at the table; Makoto’s evoker was still there: he had refused to take it, insisting that he didn’t need it.   
Ikutsuki, having rewatched the footage of Janus’s summoning several times, conceded that he could leave it; though he was still puzzled by how Makoto could summon a persona on his own: the only explanation was that he’d years of experience doing so, which led to more questions and suspicions about the boy.  
“So what exactly will we be waiting for, then?” Akihiko asked; ending the silence that had enshrouded them.  
Ikutsuki, brought back out of his ponderings, looked back at the squad. “I want to know about it if he does anything unusual. Yukari, can I ask you to keep an eye on him at school?”  
Yukari was appalled at the idea, and it showed on her face, but she held back her objections. “I’ll… try to, whenever I can.”  
Ikutsuki nodded, and then faced Akihiko. “Should he go out late at night again, we’ll let you know. See if he’s going anywhere in particular during the Dark Hour.” Akihiko silently nodded.  
“If nothing of note happens with him in a few days, we can lower our guard; understood?”  
The squad gave their affirmatives and the meeting was adjourned.

11/4/2009  
Makoto sat silently in the classroom. Keeping his back straight and his hollow gaze towards the board, he allowed the teachers monotonous words to flow freely by him; whatever sound waves hit his eardrums made no impact on him as he sat there. His unfocused eyes rarely moved as he remained confined to his own inner cognitions.   
Janus silently observed his lifeless behaviour, until he heard the teacher addressing Makoto.   
“Sixty-four,” Makoto dully responded, not looking any livelier than he had prior. The teacher gave a short “Good job,” and turned back to the board.   
Yukari looked worriedly behind her, but had to turn back when she noticed that her staring was going completely unnoticed by the zombie, lest she become miserable herself.

Makoto was again sitting at the edge of his pier. He had made his way here the very instant the bell’s chime resounded throughout those monochrome halls. This was the first time he had brought company with him.  
“Thou answeredst that question from memory,” the white sphere stated; speaking for the first time in a day. Makoto gave no response: none was needed.  
“I would like to know thy feelings, Makoto Yuuki. A human in a situation such as yours is something remarkable.”  
‘This is beginning to sound like a social link,’ Makoto bitterly remarked; putting him in a negative mood. “I don’t want to talk about the past, or the present.”  
“Thou wilt not have to. I can see for myself, if thou wilt let me.”  
Makoto considered this, making no outward response. After some time, he conceded. “Go ahead.”  
The ball floated towards his head until it was in very close proximity and began to orbit him, a little faster than usual.  
Janus made no comment on what he saw, and Makoto didn’t ask for one.

The world was once more bathed in green as Makoto strolled calmly down a street near Iwatodai station. He’d not returned to the dorm; he knew that S.E.E.S were trying to survey him and that Akihiko was no doubt already looking for him. He was confident, however, that he wouldn’t be found: Akihiko was searching a part of the city miles from where he was now.  
Finding the shop for which he was looking, he stopped and turned to face it in front of the door.  
“Feels kinda stupid that this is the first thing I’m using you for,” Makoto remarked.  
“Not at all, a simple task such as this is perfect for the sake of practice; now, relax and do as I have instructed.”  
Makoto obediently closed his eyes and raised his right arm straight up above him. The white orb swiftly flew into his open hand and erupting into a dazzling flash.  
After reopening his eyes, Makoto looked up and saw Janus floating above as he had when he was first summoned. Janus hovered forward and slowly landed before Makoto with a low ‘Thump’ upon hitting the ground.  
Taking a further step forward, Janus wielded his hefty broadsword and thrust it precisely into the side of the door; leaving no obvious marks on the outside.   
His job done, Janus’s armoured form disappeared, leaving behind a floating white light. Makoto noted that even in this brief time he could feel the effects of summoning Janus on his ‘Energy’.  
“It useth the same strength as Personae do. In time, thou wilt not notice it at all.”  
Makoto approached the shop door and pulled it open with little effort. Walking inside, he browsed around and picked what he liked before exiting outside, now with a small supply of clothes.   
“I was expecting something more especially designed for protection,” Janus said as Makoto stuffed his loot into his schoolbag.  
“Lighter gear is best for avoiding attacks; I don’t know why I never questioned having to wear a school uniform at first: they’re no good at all for exercise.”   
Makoto opened the doors into the dorm loudly and walked in at a quick pace. Mitsuru, who had been waiting in the lounge, stood up and called out to him.  
“Yuuki, what have you been doing out at this time!?” she swiftly gave out.  
Makoto paid her no attention and continued on his way, his earphones blasting out loud rock music that could be heard from the floor above.  
“Yuuki! I’m talking to you!” Mitsuru raised her voice as she started following him up the stairs.  
She made a few more attempts, even after Makoto had hurriedly closed and locked his door before she could catch up to him, before letting out a frustrated sigh and retreating to the command room to let Akihiko know of Makoto’s return.  
Ikutsuki had watched this all unfold with his surveillance cameras; and had it been someone else, he’d’ve found such antics hilarious; but instead, he just frowned and returned to his desk to think.

“What will we do? He’s now completely out of our control,” the goblin-like man angrily let out.  
“We can’t simply act in reaction to when he makes a mess of things. Henceforth, we will be playing a direct part in the events of his world,” responded the masked man plainly.  
“… Will that be alright?” asked one of the other two who were present, two young-looking women in blue uniforms.   
“Nyarlathotep has been taking indirect action on them for years now. As long as what we do only interferes with his interference, it will be fine.”  
“But master, such rash actions-“  
“Rash? This is the fate of humanity in an entire world we are discussing here, and you say that the necessary actions are rash?”  
“I’m saying that we could act indirectly as well,” the creature hinted.   
“… Of course. In doing so… we won’t need Yuuki anymore.”  
“If the replacement is powerful enough, Master.”  
“We will make him powerful enough. I will give him all the strength I can.”  
“Then, direct action won’t be needed?” asked one of the women.  
“If all goes well. With all these changes, even that puppet isn’t certain of what the future holds,” answered the Masked Man.  
“Who will be the new guest, Master?”  
The Masked Man looked at the table before them. Upon it were placed several trump tarot cards: “The Magician”, “The High Priestess”, “The Empress”, “The Emperor”, “The Hierophant”, “The Lovers”, “The Chariot” and “Justice”.  
“The Emperor,” the Masked Man exclaimed. “I’ll see him personally; after that, the rest will be up to you until my return.”  
“Yes, Master,” the creature responded as his master disappeared from the Velvet Room.  
The room descended into silence as its residents sat and stared at the one remaining card on the table. All they could do was wait for the arrival of their new guest…


	4. Changes Being Made

“And when thou succeedest, what wantest thou after this journey hath come to an end, Makoto Yuuki?”  
“A normal life, of course. The one I’ve been denied since I was ten,” Makoto replied dully.   
“Is it truly that simple? How couldst thou return to a life denied for so long?” Janus asked curiously as he floated at a snail’s pace about Makoto’s room.  
“I’ll have to just try to be more like myself when…” Makoto faltered in his answer. The reason of such was clear to both of them.  
“Dost thou remember who thou truly art anymore?”  
“Enough of this, I’ll work this rubbish out later. We have more pressing matters this early in the year,” Makoto shot irritably and rapidly.   
“Makoto, please, though thou art seventy-three, th’ast not matured truly as a person for decades. Dost thou not wish to partake in human interaction when thou art free?”  
“Of course I do! And I will whe-“  
“Then thou must try to refamiliarise thyself with it!” Janus barked. It was the first time for Makoto that Janus had not sounded calm about anything, and so was enough to give him pause. “Surely this maketh sense to thee. The time hath come for thee to take back what th’ast lost; thou needest prepare for it,” he informed, returning to his calm tone of voice.  
Makoto took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Janus was of course right: this was it. He had finally begun to reach the goal for which he’d strived for so long, and already he was acting as though he were frightened by it. That was not like him.  
He opened his eyes at that realisation. Yes, he’d lost his old identity; but that just meant he’d have to get accustomed to his new one. “You’re right,” he conceded to Janus with a near-smile.  
“Then, I will ask again: dost thou remember who thou truly art?”  
“No,” he whispered, gently shaking his head, eyes pointed at the centre of the floor. “I remember who I was, but was only aware for a time of what I was becoming.”  
“Explain.”  
“I noticed the changes for the first the few years, the differences in my behaviour,” Makoto began, frowning as he delved deeper into territory forbidden. “It was all so confusing, impossible to understand. My actions were intentional: I was trying to find a way out of the loop; so like, it shouldn’t have any indication of how I really felt, right? That was what I thought about it all until I stopped caring.”  
“And after that?”  
“I stopped myself from having those thoughts. I disregarded any that surfaced in my mind, and told myself to shut up and focus on my mission. I suppose it’s time to cut that out.”  
“Indeed, Makoto Yuuki. Thy time in purgatory hath ended.”

18/8  
“This is fantastic news, Akihiko!” exclaimed Ikutsuki in the Meeting Room at the top of the dorm. “Why, with the addition of a new member, I’m confident enough to send you all on your first mission in Tartarus.”  
To this, Akihiko reacted exceedingly positively; whilst Mitsuru was less enthusiastic.  
“It’s odd that he’s agreed so soon though. We’ve only let him know the absolute basics and he was rescued just the other day. He hasn’t even met the rest of the team.”  
“Relax, Mitsuru we can give him all the boring exposition as we go along. Besides, this guy’s bound to be a better newcomer than the last guy,” said Akihiko with an excited grin.   
Ikutsuki coughed and adjusted his glasses before speaking to the two. “Quite. Speaking of whom, I’d like you both to pay extra attention to Yuuki on your missions. Keep an eye out for unusual behaviour and include it in your mission reports.”  
“What would count as ‘Unusual behaviour’ when we’re fighting monsters?” asked Akihiko, upset at the idea of even more responsibility when all he wanted to do was punch some shadows.  
“I’ll leave that to your judgement,” Ikutsuki answered mysteriously. “Your first night of operation will be the day after tomorrow.”  
Mitsuru agreed with the Chairman’s decision to monitor Makoto, though she was a bit apprehensive about going on any expeditions at all. Still, she knew the Chairman had made up his mind; and asking if he was sure was just a waste of time. “Very well, Mr Chairman. If that’s all, we’ll be on our way to prepare.” Ikutsuki nodded to her and allowed the pair to leave the room.  
‘Things are finally beginning to happen around here’ thought Ikutsuki.

19/4  
“Hang on, this thing is heavy.” A voice came from out the door; and soon, a its owner walked into the dorm.  
“No way,” Yukari exclaimed. Before her and Makoto, now standing next to Akihiko was none other than Junpei Iori. “Junpei? I mean, are you serious? This guy’s got the potential!?”  
“That’s right. I told him about us, and he agreed to help. From now on, he’ll be a member of S.E.E.S. just like you two,” Akihiko informed, trying to sound like he was giving good news despite the bad response from Yukari and the lack of such from Makoto. Junpei at least seemed happy.  
“Man, after Akihiko saved me, he explained to me about this team you guys got going on; and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I never would’ve thought in a million years the others were included you two though!” Junpei chuckled with a wide grin.  
“What’s that supposed to mean!? Wait… what do you mean he ‘Saved’ you?” Yukari inquired, a smirk growing on her expression which had just been full of rage.  
“U-uh… well,” Junpei began, looking away quickly and scratching the back of his neck. He then let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, he found me crying like a baby surrounded by a bunch of coffins, alright? But he said that was normal for the first time!”   
Yukari looked away, so Junpei looked at Makoto for assurance. After some pause, Makoto let out a brief “Sure;” and turned around to the stairway upstairs. All three of them showed their displeasure in one way or another before finishing up Junpei’s introduction. Akihiko helped Junpei move his luggage into his room, and exited the dorm some time later just before midnight.

It was during what Akihiko expected to be another uneventful patrol that he spotted something odd rounding a corner on the gloomy green streets of Iwatodai. He pursued it only to glimpse at it rounding another corner farther away. Whatever it was, it was fast. Akihiko ran after it.  
He would lose it, catch sight of it, and lose it again. Akihiko was well out of breath at this stage; but still he pressed on, chasing after what he could only describe as a small, glowing, very fast blue… butterfly. He’d gotten a good look at it as it led him across the Moonlight Bridge: there, it had no turns with which to avoid his gaze.   
Akihiko paused where he now stood. He was at the entrance of his school, the entrance of Tartarus. Did he dare enter on his own? Was even the first floor safe? Would the mysterious butterfly try to lure him up the stairs and trap him in the maddening maze of Tartarus’s upper levels? Akihiko, for reasons unknown to himself, decided to find out.  
His fears seemed needless, for the butterfly was there, finally still, waiting for him on the ground floor. It was resting on the handle of an identically coloured and light-exuding door, which had nothing behind it and was standing in a seemingly random area tucked away from the middle of the room. After little consideration, Akihiko approached the door; and as he neared it, the butterfly flew off the door’s handle as it swang open. Akihiko covered his face as it was bombarded with a blinding light which burst out of the doorway as it opened.

When he moved his arms from his face, he found himself in a place most bizarre. He was now standing on a circular, marble, checker-patterned floor whose edge supported great, white, marble pillars which in turn supported nothing. There was nothing visible beyond the edge of the floor, and Akihiko dared not venture over for a better look, for he was stuck in place by the sight of a mysterious suited man in front of him wearing a mask which covered his entire face.  
“Welcome, Mr Sanada,” the suited man greeted with a relaxed, friendly and calming voice. “I am delighted to meet you. My name is Philemon, and this is my domain: it is a place between the realms of consciousness and unconsciousness.”  
Akihiko was utterly stunned. He could find no thoughts, let alone words, appropriate for this outstanding situation.  
“I understand that this meeting is unexpected; and let me tell you, I hadn’t thought this would happen either,” Philemon spoke. “But please, try to remain calm; listen to what I have to say; and ask me anything you wish.”  
“Well to start, what the hell’s going on here?” Akihiko asked, having found his voice.  
“I have invited you to my home and you have come. I did so because I have much to tell you and something to ask of you.”  
Akihiko again took some time to take this all in before looking at Philemon again. “Okay, what do you want?”  
“Let me start with what I have to say. In short, Mr Sanada, your mission is doomed to fail.” Akihiko’s eyes rewidened, after he had just relaxed somewhat.  
“What?”  
“For reasons at the moment unexplainable, your fate has been tampered with; and without my help, it will be sealed. You see Mr Sanada, outside forces like me are interfering in terrible disruptive ways with the workings of your world to change the future; and if they succeed, all humanity will be destroyed.”  
Needless to say, Akihiko was indescribably shocked at this revelation. He tried to keep his head straight and focus on the situation as best he could. “Outside forces? Humanity? Since when was all humanity on the line?” Had he this whole time been fighting a battle for all mankind? And a losing one at that?  
“Mr Sanada, this was never meant to be how you would find out. Over the course of this year, you were all supposed to discover the true nature of the shadows and how to stop them. Thus, I am forced to limit my information as much as I can to keep events in as much order as possible. But yes, the entire world is at risk and rests in the hands of you and your companions; and at this rate, you will fail,” Philemon gravely explained, emphasising the last part.  
“What should I do? You say you’ll help me? How?”  
“I can give you power. I will bestow unto you my greatest gift; and with it, you will be able to stop the coming disaster… and the person behind it.”  
“Person? Who? Who started this?”  
“For now, this is all I should say. I know it is hard, but I beg you to trust me Mr Sanada. All I wish to do is save you and your world, and you’re the only one who can help me,” Philemon pleaded, sounding almost desperate to Akihiko.  
Akihiko wasn’t sure what to think of all this. What reason had he to believe what Philemon was saying? What reason had he not to? One thing stood out in his mind, however. “You say you’ll give me power?”  
“Yes, I will give you strength far beyond that of your companions. You will be capable of feats on your own that the rest of your team could not achieve as a group. All it would take is your acceptance of my gift and your new role.”  
“New role?”   
“As a saviour, the one who will stop the end of the world.”   
Akihiko, though still a bit reluctant, liked the sound of that. Philemon would make him stronger, stronger than anyone else, than he could ever become on his own; and with that strength he would save everyone he still held dear and countless others. With such power, he could never feel useless again. It was all unbelievable, and yet he believed it was true. Philemon’s words just had such an air of sincerity about them that Akihiko found it hard to doubt him. With a decisive nod, he looked and walked up to Philemon. “I accept.”  
It was odd: though Philemon’s face was hidden by a mask, Akihiko sensed that he was smiling. “Thank you, Mr Sanada,” he said as he reached his hand forward and placed it on Akihiko’s forehead. “Remember, you will be the one to save the world: you are a hero, Akihiko Sanada.” With that, Akihiko’s vision was obscured once again by a bright flash; his ears were attacked by the scream of shattering glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Motivation is a funny thing: it hits you for no reason whatsoever and doesn’t leave until it feels like it. Fortunately for me, it was persistent enough this time around to get me to write another chapter. Woo! I hope you enjoyed yet another shortish update and please, for the love of God, review!
> 
> Also important, this is being released before final editing; so alterations may be performed. Feel free to let me know what YOU think those alterations ought to be.


	5. Central Powers (Part One)

“Thus the beginning of battle draweth nigh.”  
“Indeed,” replied Makoto less apathetically than is normal.  
“Dost thou feel prepared? It will be a long, arduous journey. Again.”  
Makoto snorted at the daemon’s witty remark. “The beginning used to always be the worst: the strength of everyone, even myself, being reset; slowing me down. The same first fight every year…” Makoto sighed.  
“Used to…”  
That forced him to smile. “Yeah, it’ll be exciting this time: for the first time in you know how long.”  
“Possibly even moreso than thou believest,” Janus commented.  
“Meaning?”  
“Now that thou wilt be taking part in battle personally, thou might notice a further change from the days of thy persona-evoking.”  
Makoto was needless to say intrigued by what he was hearing. “What kind of change? Do you perchance mean another new power?”  
“Alas, even I, who would be responsible for such a development, cannot say. It is possible that there won’t be such a deviation from thine old state. Nevertheless, I advise thee to be aware of such a possibility whilst in the Tower of Demise. Should we bear witness to any uncommon traits displayed, I shall do my best to enlighten.”  
Makoto only grew more anxious with Janus’s vagueness.

20/4  
“With this many members, it’s time to start exploring Tartarus”  
“Tartarus? ‘The heck is that? Sounds like toothpaste”  
“It’ll be better just to show you…”  
Junpei gawked at the unfathomable transformation of his school into a massive swirling chaotic mess of a tower. The peak reached such a height that it seemed to have pierced into the moon by the time it had finally reached its full extension. Yukari, still not used to the terrifying sight, was likewise impressed; but able to control her reaction. The seniors and Makoto watched in determination and mild disinterest accordingly.  
Eager to experience firsthand that of which Janus had told him, Makoto was the first to move forward, paying no heed to Junpei’s looking for answers to what he’d just seen. As Mitsuru calmed Junpei down with some exposition, Akihiko noted that Makoto’s lack of hesitation probably counted as ‘unusual behaviour’; and followed him closely before the others walked after him.  
“You’ll be field-leader, Akihiko. The younger members will be your responsibility”  
“At least one of you doesn’t seem to need any babysitting…” thought Akihiko resentfully.

The group entered the main floor, and the Senpai gave brief instructions on their first operation. Makoto all the while stared blankly at the stairs to the first floor, knowing not what would happen beyond them. Akihiko too was distracted by the absence of a certain blue door that’d once been tucked away in the corner of the room.   
Finally, they were allowed venture forth: Akihiko and Makoto led the way in front of the more apprehensive juniors.  
Upon entering, Yukari and Junpei were surprised by the wall abruptly shutting behind them. Mitsuru reassured the group and reinstructed them to follow Akihiko closely. Slowly, they pushed on.  
Their first encounter was with a gang of three shadows: two mayas and a tiara. Junpei tightened his grip on his sword, frightened, but eager to prove himself. Yukari readied her bow, scared about letting them get too close. Makoto glanced at Janus beside him, ready to step in only if needed; thinking it best to get the others’ first evokings over with quickly.   
Akihiko was caught off guard, not by the appearance of the shadows, but by something from within himself.  
“I am thou. Thou art I,” it whispered to him in a somehow calm yet overwhelming manner. Akihiko’s head was bombarded by the presence he felt within it. He held his head and winced when he was interrupted by another voice in his ear.  
“Enemy spotted. Akihiko, lead the attack; and make sure everyone is unharmed.”  
Akihiko took a deep breath before responding: “Roger. Everyone on my go,” he ordered, turning to briefly face the rest of the party. Upon turning back, his hand hovered over his evoker; but he stopped: there was something threatening, almost sinister about the idea of what would come out. Akihiko shook his head, and decided just to rely on his fists for the time being: better to let the others have a shot at summoning first.  
“Alright, let’s go!” He took off with impressive speed, Yukari and Junpei right behind him and Makoto taking the rear. Akihiko made the first move with a swift uppercut to the still unsuspecting tiara. The mayas, suddenly aware of the situation, turned to face the boxer; they then however did something quite unexpected: they ran away.  
“The hell?” Akihiko muttered to himself.   
Junpei soon caught up, panting from the short sprint. He, with the others, watched the retreating mayas in surprise before commenting. “Guess we… scared them off?” he proposed, unsure, relieved, yet simultaneously disappointed.  
Makoto spoke in his mind. “Do you suppose that was our doing?”  
“Most likely,” Janus answered, inaudible to the rest of SEES.  
“The shadows seem to be retreating, pursue with caution,” instructed Mitsuru.  
“Got it,” responded Akihiko, leading the party after the enemy.  
They ran after them until the shadows rounded a corner: after quickly checking on everyone, Akihiko led SEES around it. What they found on the other side was not at all what they’d expected.  
Facing them was an unprecedented amount of shadows, cornered and flailing wildly, looking ready to burst forth towards them at any moment.   
The group halted, awestruck. Makoto readied himself: it looked like it was time to step in. He still wouldn’t summon Janus. Though his physical strength may have reverted back from what it would be by the end of the year, his wits and battle-awareness only grew with each cycle. Akihiko’s hand again ventured close to his holster, and again the fear of its effect took hold of him. Whatever was in his head wanted to get out, and it was much too powerful to be Polydeuces.  
Both of them however were interrupted by the crash of an evokershot. They saw suddenly a fireball hurtle into one of the mayas in front, followed by Hermes flying foot-first into the pile of abominations, finishing of the shadow hit by the weak Agi. Junpei celebrated his first kill; however, Hermes was quickly attacked and overwhelmed by the great number of shadows and promptly destroyed, eliciting a roar of pain from Junpei as he clutched his head.  
“Iori! Yukari, see if you can help him! Akihiko, you need to either hold off or handle those shadows!” Mitsuru barked over the communicator.  
Akihiko was under pressure now. He swallowed air down his dry throat, slowly tightening a grip onto his evoker until he saw Makoto run ahead toward the overcrowded end of the corridor.  
“Yuuki, what are you doing!?” Mitsuru shouted in his ear. Makoto ignored her as he neared the enemy. The shadows snarled at his approach, but they were visibly intimidated by him. As he became mere metres away from the shadows’ perimeter, those in front began lunging forward in a desperation-attack. Makoto welcomed their arrival with quick swipes of his rapier. He knew he should be able to take out each with just a couple of strikes, even with his lacklustre physique and equipment. This however turned out to be an underestimation.  
With just one slash, he split the first hostiles clean in half. He felt no resistance as he bifurcated each and every one of them, now making progress on and working his way into the main body of enemies. Whilst his sword-arm was outstretched to his right, a tiara charged him from the left. In quick reaction, he delivered a punch to its small face. His fist met the inhoming shadow with such force that it plunged into its body before it quickly dispersed into black smoke. “What is this? This strength…” Makoto thought as he pressed on with the remains of the shadow horde.  
“It would seem that thou hast indeed received a secondary gift from our bond,” Janus answered. “That it hath made itself manifest so rapidly is most impressive.”  
“So the power you mentioned is just an increase to my strength?” Makoto inquired as he plunged his sword through one shadow and into another behind it.  
“Perhaps.”  
Makoto grabbed a tiara and hurled it into a maya with such force as to destroy them both with the blow. Thinking that was the last of them, Makoto relaxed his stance, standing up straight, when he heard a shout from behind.  
“Watch out!”  
Suddenly he felt a disgusting cold grip encase his back and shoulders as a maya grabbed him from behind. It outstretched its head over Makoto’s left shoulder and moved to bite into it with its now-fanged mask when Makoto felt a great pressure swell in his mind.   
Suddenly, that pressure released itself from him; and the shadow, though Makoto had yet made hardly any move to remove it from him, was flung away and into a wall hard enough to splash across it before evaporating.   
“Perhaps not.”  
The others of SEES stood there completely flabbergasted. Himself having now recovered, Junpei’s jaw hung stupidly open; Yukari held both her hands over her mouth; and Akihiko simply stared in a mixture of shock, fear and admiration. Had Makoto been facing them, and had they been observing him closely, they’d’ve noticed something change in his features at the moment of the maya’s repulsion. However, it was now no longer present; and it had only gone noticed by Janus.  
“What, the, actual, fuck,” Junpei crudely exclaimed, perfectly accurately conveying the thoughts of all who’d witnessed what had just happened.  
Makoto looked to them, honestly lost on what to say in the situation. Calmly, he returned to and walked past the group, raising his finger to his ear. “Floor clear,” he reported via the communicator, before turning around and asking “We moving up or not?”   
The next floor went off without a hitch. Yukari summoned her persona for the first time, and Junpei was able to fight on without further injury, having learnt the hard way the importance of dismissing his persona after use.  
Akihiko went through the whole night without using his evoker, and Makoto decided not to take further active part in battle that trip.

“Well done everyone,” Mitsuru welcomed them as they returned to her through the green teleporter on the other side of the room. “You all made it out without serious harm, and performed admirably for your first mission.”  
“Man, am I tired after it all though.”  
“Yeah, that really took a lot out of me.”  
“Until you adjust, you’ll find exertion during the dark hour more taxing than usual,” Mitsuru informed. She looked to Makoto to examine him. He looked back. He won, and Mitsuru turned to Akihiko. “How did you find leading the group? It wasn’t too hard after all, was it?”  
Akihiko sighed; “Guess not. It’ll still take some getting used to though.”  
“You’ll adjust, too,” Mitsuru told him, walking up close to him. “We need to have a discussion with the chairman when we return to the dorm,” she whispered. This went noticed, but was expected by Makoto. Akihiko nodded slightly with a serious expression before addressing the group.   
“All right, let’s head home for tonight everyone. You all did well.”  
“So,” Makoto began in his mind, “Have you an explanation?”  
“Indeed. I will happily inform thee when there are no distractions about,” Janus told him.  
Makoto agreed that that was for the best, and followed after the others, hands in the pockets of his hoodie. 

Mitsuru reported the night’s developments to Ikutsuki with perfect recall. Ikutsuki was of course intrigued by a certain part of her report. He looked to Akihiko after Mitsuru was finished. “Can you confirm this?”  
“Yeah, all of it’s just like I saw. He never let out that persona of his once all night.”  
“Neither did you, speaking of which,” observed Mitsuru. “I know you’re one to rely on your own strength more than I, but would it not’ve been useful to use your power at any time tonight?”  
Akihiko was surprised and somewhat frightened by the question. “Huh? I guess I just didn’t think to use it. Seeing Yuuki fight without his got me pumped, you know? Didn’t want the new kid to upstage me,” he lied with a forged smile.  
Mitsuru sighed, buying it. “Honestly Akihiko, how much have I told you that this isn’t a game?”  
“Anyway, have you anything to report not mentioned by Mitsuru, Akihiko?” asked the chairman, tired of the pair’s old antics.  
Akihiko was about to say ‘No:’ he’d never had anything to say that Mitsuru already hadn’t, but he remembered something else about Makoto from tonight. “Yeah, actually,” he began, catching the interest of the other two; “When we were outside the school at midnight, Yuuki didn’t even flinch; he walked right in before all of us like he owned the place.”  
Ikutsuki hummed, stoking his short beard at this information. “I see. How odd,” he plainly commented. “If that is all, you may leave. Good job tonight.”  
The two nodded and took their leave. They both took one last look at eachother before splitting up with short ‘Good Nights’ uttered, and retreated to their rooms.

Makoto was sat at his desk, watching the moon return to its natural colour as had innumerable times before.  
“To a mortal,” began Janus, “The mere presence of a real daemon is something that exudeth great power. A palpable energy courseth through our very being, and some of that energy is excreted from us when we take physical forms on Earth. With the contract binding the two of us, our existence together is much more intimate than merely being in eachother’s presence. I am both within and without your very heart.”  
“So what, I’m leaching off of some magic radiation of yours?” Makoto summarised inquisitively.  
“Indeed. And that radiation may conjure any number of changes in a mortal. In thy case, it hath taken the form of a power within thee that thou canst conjure as would a daemon, shadow or persona: it is the power of Zan, the ability to move matter through sheer will.”  
“Zan… I’ve never come across that one before.”  
“It cannot be categorised under any natural element. Few living creatures have the mind to wield such raw power.”  
Makoto processed all of this before moving to his next question. “So how does it work?”


	6. Central Powers (Part Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just discovered the "Rich Text" function on this site... I'm terribly sorry for the terrible formatting in every chapter prior, but at least it won't happen again henceforth.

21/4

“The cops are on our side, huh?” asked Junpei. He, Makoto and Akihiko were stood in Officer Kurosawa’s station, Akihiko having introduced them to the unorthodox policeman.

“I’m just an ordinary police officer, but it doesn’t take a genius to realise that there’s something strange going on here. I’m only doing what I think is right,” he informed the two second-years.

“Well, fair enough,” Junpei said with a smirk. “So what can I get with this cash, then?”

“Let me just show you what I have in stock at the moment,” Officer Kurosawa told him as he led Junpei behind the counter.

Makoto waited behind: he’d formulated an idea for himself from Janus’s teachings during the night prior, but was not yet committed to it. “You not gonna get anything?” Akihiko asked him, waking him up from his ponderings.

Makoto looked to him blankly. “I’m content with what I have already for now,” he answered, turning to leave the station.

“You sure? You might find something if you take a look,” Akihiko called over to him.

“Yeah,” Makoto responded as he retreated further; “Thanks for the money, though.” With that, he exited and made his way to the dorm.

Akihiko was learning to roll with Makoto’s odd behaviour at this stage. At any rate, he needed to get going, too; and go he did, hearing the sound of a happy Junpei behind him. “Must’ve found something he liked,” he thought.

Now in the main area of the mall, he made his way to a secluded area underneath the stairs to the karaoke bar. He had caught a glimpse of something familiar, but hadn’t the time to investigate then, for he was to meet the two juniors at the police station. Upon rounding a corner, his suspicions were confirmed: before him stood a large, blue, glowing doorway, not part of any wall. Logically it should lead nowhither, but Akihiko already knew that that wasn’t the case. He approached the door; and, upon resting his hand on the handle, was taken away from his world.

Akihiko now found himself seated in a large cubic room. The colour of every wall, every decoration and every furnishing was a dark, calming blue, just like the door that permitted him entrance into the room. However, the room was unusual in much more striking ways than its monochromatism: for a start, the wall at the back from Akihiko’s perspective was in fact more like a large old-fashioned elevator door; in front of which was another wall, cold and grey-bricked, like the elevator had stopped moving between floors and was stuck. Everything else about the room gave a similar feeling of dilapidation and malfunction: dust had gathered everywhere, and dark patches in corners suggested mould formation.

Of course, Akihiko hadn’t time to appreciate all of these details, for his attention was quickly snatched by the creature seated in the couch across the table in front of him.

It coughed somewhat violently before speaking. “Welcome,” it started, clearing its throat a final time before continuing, “To the velvet room.” It looked up from the table-top and at Akihiko’s face with an offputting smile. “My name is Igor; it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr Sanada.” It seemed to wait for a response from Akihiko, but he was given none. It coughed again before continuing. “Ah, allow me to explain myself to alleviate your confusion. I am a servant Philemon, whom I trust you’ve already met, yes?”

“That’s right,” Akihiko responded hesitantly.

“Excellent. We have decided to make ourselves known to you now to offer you our assistance with your mission and help you understand your new gift.”

“Gift?” Akihiko parroted.

Igor looked surprised by this. He looked up to his left to give glances to the two women standing at his side, whom Akihiko had only now noticed. They looked back, and one shook her head gently. “Oh, I see. You’ve not used it yet.” Igor again cleared his throat. “Well, in that case, I must ask why not. You’ve been to Tartarus by now: have you not summoned your new persona?”

Now last night made sense to Akihiko: Philemon’s ‘power’ was a new persona, presumably replacing his old one. “No,” he told Igor, trying to think of how to explain why not; “I noticed something different; and was, unsure about using it or not.”

The three in front of him again all looked at eachother. “Well, I assure you that there’s nothing to fear about your new gift. I advise you use it as soon as possible, in fact. Else, you won’t learn its true nature for when it truly matters,” Igor warned ominously.

“Um, okay, I’ll… try,” Akihiko said. He was at quite a loss here; fortunately, Igor took hold of the conversation.

“Good. Now, once you’ve become acquainted with your gift, we will be able to assist, advice and instruct on its use: that is our purpose, to help you fulfil yours.”

“My purpose…” Akihiko thought to himself. “That’s right, what Philemon said.”

_“If they succeed, all humanity will be destroyed.”_

“Until then, farewell,” Igor spoke. Suddenly, Akihiko was again blinded; and found himself back at the mall.

There they were again, Tartarus. Having lost the small progress of their introductory foray, the expeditionary group reentered through the door atop the stairway.

Upon encountering their first shadow that night, a tiara, Akihiko decided to let Yukari and Junpei handle it on their own.

“You sure?” Junpei whispered to the leader.

“You’ll be fine: there’s one of it and two of you, and I’m here if anything goes bad,” encouraged Akihiko.

“If you say so, Senpai,” Yukari obeyed, not sounding convinced.

Akihiko and Makoto stood back to watch. It wasn’t surprising that Makoto didn’t ask why he wasn’t there with the other two.

The two discussed a game-plan, and split up. Yukari took a deep breath and readied her bow, aiming at the shadow as Junpei waited around a corner between her and it. She relaxed herself as much as possible, and then took the shot. It hit, and the shadow, though wounded, began hurtling over to Yukari with a low roar. Yukari tried to ready another arrow, hoping Junpei’s ambush would render it unnecessary; but she then spotted something approaching Junpei from behind.

“Junpei, look out!” she called, much too late; as the shadow, a maya, was already within grabbing distance of him. It took hold of Junpei’s neck; and as he struggled, formed its fangs, ready to bear them down on him.

Akihiko moved to run thither right away; but Makoto, who’d noticed something he hadn’t, stopped him by grabbing his arm.

Akihiko tried to release himself. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked; but suddenly, he heard the reason for Makoto’s actions.

The sound of shattering glass ushered the arrival of Yukari’s persona, Io. The girl atop the skull spread her arms out, creating a gust of glowing wind that split the shadow and Junpei from eachother, leaving Junpei unharmed and the shadow almost destroyed.

Without time to think, Junpei reached for his evoker; pressed it against his temple; and summoned forth his own persona, who materialised moving from the start towards the shadow still making its way to Yukari, now past the corner where Junpei was stood.

It delivered a powerful quick that eliminated the creature, leaving only the heavily weakened shadow behind Junpei, down upon which he quickly brought his new claymore.

The shadow disintegrated, leaving two panting teenagers and a pair of relieved onlookers.

Junpei was pleased with his new weapons results as well as what he thought was the coolest way to use it for the first time. He walked to Yukari with a great smile, and then realised something else. Junpei blushed and scratched the back of his head. “Uh heh, you just, saved my life right there, didn’t you?”

Yukari was a bit lost on what she should say. “Um, I guess so,” she answered with a proud smile. She turned back to see the reaction of their leader.

Akihiko looking less than pleased at Makoto as the two walked over, but offered them a smile when he reached them. “That was good work. I told you you both had it in you,” he told them.

“Heh, yeah that was totally badass, right? Didn’t exactly go according to plan, but we pulled through thanks to Yuka-tan’s quick thinking,” Junpei said happily.

“Huh? I mean, you’re the one who killed them both. I just helped out,” Yukari responded humbly, trying to brush aside Junpei’s compliment, not that she didn’t appreciate what he’d said.

“He’s right, you stepped in when you needed to and looked after another member of the team. That’s the kind of stuff that’ll keep us alive in here,” Akihiko reminded them all.

Makoto said not a word during the whole exchange: everything had gone as he’d anticipated. Again, his subtle actions failed to pass unnoticed by Janus.

The rest of the journey was less eventful until they reached the fifth floor. Suddenly, Mitsuru addressed them all over their communicators. “I detect three powerful presences on this floor. Proceed with caution,” she warned.

The group drew their weapons; and walked forward slowly into a much larger, more open room than the typical corridors of Tartarus. They heard a startlingly loud flapping noise in the background, advising Yukari and Junpei to stick closer to Akihiko and Makoto up front.

Of course, Makoto knew what was waiting for them; and was thus waiting in return.

Suddenly, one of them revealed themselves from behind a massive pillar: it was a great, bestial shadow in the shape of a bird, wearing upon its head the mask of the Empress. Makoto hesitated for not one second: this was the moment for which he’d been longing.

Though the shadow was flying towards Yukari, Makoto stepped in front of her and readied himself, remembering his teachings.

_“With the power of Zan, thou wilt be able to enforce your will upon all matter. Moving, halting, hastening or stalling.” Makoto tested it on a pencil on his desk. With little effort he made it slowly float up and hover over his hand._

Makoto leapt up to meet the shadow mid-air. He reached forward, minimising the distance between him and it.

_“Your ability to use your power on an object will decrease with distance.” Makoto willed the pencil to float out the window, and as it furthered away from him, it began to drop before abruptly plummeting back down to Earth._

Finally, his hand came into physical contact with the shadow. He pressed his palm hard against its mask and with every part of his mind ordered it to be gone.

The other three at this point had only begun to comprehend what was happening when suddenly they witnessed the enemy launch off in almost the opposite direction to the one whence it had been coming.

_“Lastly, stand thou up.” Makoto complied. “Use Zan to keep that book on thy desk stationary, and try to pick it up by hand.” Again, Makoto did as asked; and was unable to move the small book without considerable effort. “Now, pick up the book and attempt to throw it against the wall,” Janus instructed, eliciting a confused look from Makoto. “Just before releasing it, use Zan to stop it.” Makoto disregarded any apprehension, and attempted to hurl the book away from him, only for his hand to be suddenly blocked. “An object’s current momentum hath no effect on Zan, only its mass.”_

Makoto wasted no time upon landing. He quickly sprinted to the shadow before it could get up, and delivered a powerful stab into its breast, strengthened by the use of Zan on his own body and weapon. The shadow was subsequently vanquished.

Makoto and the rest of SEES had no time to relax, however; as they heard a warning from Mitsuru. “Here they come! En garde!” The other two shadows identical to the first appeared and swiftly made for the three in the middle of the room. With two large hostiles approaching them fast, they had to act equally so. All three reached for their evokers, but only Junpei and Yukari used them, calling forth both of their personas once more. Hermes and Io both used Agi and Garu respectively, however only Hermes’s attack had effect: the shadow hit by the flames steered wildly off-course, but the other proceeded as if nothing had happened.

There was no time to ready a weapon; even Makoto, with his unnatural speed would not reach them in time: the shadow was simply too close. Akihiko couldn’t afford to stall any longer: this ridiculous fear had to be overcome.

“Ahura Mazda!” he roared as he pulled the trigger of his evoker. It was as if something had overcome him; a lightbulb in his head had turned itself on, and the light therefrom had revealed what now floated in front of them.

The persona called forth an almost transparent forcefield between the incoming shadow and the group; into which crashed the shadow with tremendous force. After that, the shield vanished; and the shadow hit the ground. Yukari and Junpei recovered in time to perform a joint attack, Yukari with her bow and Junpei with another fireball directed at the shadow Junpei had hit before, which had just gotten itself off the floor. The shadow managed to avoid but one arrowshot with the aid of an Agi spell, whilst every other attack hit it. The shadow fell and exploded into a black mist.

The last shadow recovered quickly, and faced Akihiko and his new persona. Ahura Mazda stood three metres tall and five metres wide. It was mostly golden in colour, in the form of a robed bearded man’s upper body attached at the hip to a great pair of feathered wings and a feathered tail, with two long tendril-like appendages also sprouting from the human hip. Ahura raised its left hand, in which he held a large golden ring, and therefrom called forth a brilliant beam of white light that hit the shadow, causing it to shriek in pain. The beam however quickly faded out, as did its source: Ahura Mazda disappeared before the suddenly fatigued Akihiko; and the shadow attempted to conjure one last gust of Garu with its remaining strength. Akihiko felt a rush of air swirl around him as his vision began to fade; helpless, he could not even brace himself for the attack.

Fortunately, it never came. The last thing Akihiko could distinguish before blacking out was a massive set of armour and a headless shadow.

“Akihiko! Akihiko, do you read me?” Mitsuru called out on her microphone, having ‘watched’ the whole battle unfold.

“He’s passed out,” she heard Makoto bluntly report.

“Yuuki, are you okay? And Yukari and Junpei?”

“We’re all fine, Mitsuru-san,” Yukari responded.

Mitsuru sighed in relief. “There’s a teleporter on that floor, it feels different from the others but never mind that for now. Just get Akihiko back safely,” Mitsuru ordered.

“Roger, Mitsuru-san.”

“Got it, Senpai.”

Mitsuru took a deep breath, and thought back on all she’d witnessed in the last five minutes. She didn’t like what she’d seen.


	7. A Wonderful World

Mitsuru’s powers were quite unusual indeed. It was never easy for her to describe it to others. The best explanation she could offer was that, with the help of a radio set, she could “see” people, shadows and personae. The rest of the world to her power was an indistinguishable grey blur, but what she could “see” stood out by producing radiant colours. Shadows were of course dirty mixes of black, brown and crimson; whilst people produced a myriad of different colours. For instance, Yukari Takeba was always pink.

 

With this in mind, Mitsuru was quite troubled now by two members of the Execution Squad.

 

Makoto was as much of an enigma to her persona as it was to her. He’d been an inky black when he first arrived at the dorm, which had panicked her slightly and led to the misunderstanding on his arrival between him and Takeba. However, ever since the day when he defeated the Magician, he’d become transparent, like very clean glass, barely able to be seen. Even his hulking persona was almost invisible to hers. Yet even that wasn’t as curious as the other member.

 

Akihiko had inexplicably changed colour.

 

Mitsuru watched as the four walked into the large room. Peering into the grey murkiness, she spotted three large black blobs with a tellingly large crimson centre.

 

“I detect three powerful presences on this floor. Proceed with caution.” Unfortunately, that was the best warning she could give. Even with the field-members as a reference-point, it was difficult to visualise the distance or even direction of the shadows relative to her team.

 

Suddenly, she spotted movement by one of the black blobs; but before she could give any warning, it abruptly reversed direction; and flew even faster, away from the group. The three persons she could see were still standing a ways off, meaning it must have been Makoto.

 

Having lost concentration on the other two shadows, she just then realised that they’d begun to move as well. “Here they come! En garde!”

 

Takeba and Iori began to glow more brightly, calling forth their personae to confront the enemy. The battle wasn’t looking good. Takeba had used an ineffective attack on one of the shadows, which therefore continued towards them. Akihiko’s colour remained dull: he still wasn’t summoning his persona. Mitsuru was worried; she perused the surrounding area to try to locate Yuuki, but she couldn’t find him anywhere near the other three. She had to tell Akihiko to do something! “Ak-” Instantly, she was silenced by the eruption of lustrous gold that was emitted by Akihiko. Mitsuru struggled to make sense of what happened next. A thin line of white light shot out at the shadow; but just as fast, it dissipated along with the bright golden light of Akihiko and his new persona. All that was left was but a spark. Mitsuru had only just taken note that the shadow was still not yet slain when it abruptly vanished, but this time, she could see the large yet subtle shimmer nearby. Makoto.

 

“Akihiko! Akihiko, do you read me?” she called out to her comrade, concerned for his safety.

 

“He’s passed out,” she heard over the microphone. After checking on the others, she directed them to the teleporter; and breathed a great sigh of relief. Working with S.E.E.S. had gotten quite a bit more stressful over the last few days.

 

Makoto walked back to the dorm ahead of the others, leaving Junpei to struggle with carrying Akihiko. He was outraged, fuming, unable to believe what’d happened. The image of that great godlike persona Akihiko had summoned flashed in his head and made him grit his teeth.

 

He entered the dorm, and quickly stormed up into his room, and locked the door. Finally in private, he took a deep breath; and tried in vain to calm down.

 

“I could not foresee this. The Room has taken action,” Janus stated ponderingly.

 

“This is why, Janus,” Makoto whispered, holding back his rage.

 

“Makoto Yuuki?”

 

“This is what I’m fighting against,” he started, shutting his eyes and clenching his fists. Suddenly, several small objects in his room were flung away whence he stood. “All I want is to be left alone!”

 

Makoto grabbed onto his S.E.E.S. armband and wrenched it from his sleeve, tossing it out the window. He swiftly ripped his sheathed sword from his hip and slang it at the wall opposite him, creating a very noticeable dent therein.

 

Makoto sat on his bed, and breathed deeply once more. “They’re doing it again: they’re trying to take control of my life. I won’t let them. I won’t let them!”

 

“Makoto Yuuki, please explain to me what troubleth thee.”

 

“It’s simple: I’m not in their leash anymore, so now they’re using a proxy!”

 

“The current situation I comprehend fully, but thine issue I do not. Talk me of it.”

 

Makoto took a second to collect himself. He knew by now that he could tell Janus about these things. “I’ve realised something, Janus. All of this isn’t so that I can have a “normal” life; I just want a life of my own. Never, not once have I enjoyed that simple right.” Makoto looked out the window as he noticed everything shift from the green hue of the Dark Hour to its mundane palette. “My parents died well before I could live by myself; since then I’ve been the property of the state, which had me moved sporadically, more times than I can even remember. When I got here, I still wasn’t any more capable. I signed into an agreement with that damnable elevator, and agreed to help out a band of idiots on their quest to climb a tower full of monsters.”

 

Makoto was used to hiding this terrible bitterness in front of others; he was surprised by how good it felt to let it out. “Even now, as I fight my fate, everything is going exactly according to Nyarlathotep’s plan! None of this is what _I_ want! It never was! The only reason I joined S.E.E.S. the first time was because my life was so fucking meaningless until then! They’re all the same! None of them give a shit about humanity! They still don’t even know that’s what’s at stake here! They’re just using this, using _me,_ to get what they want!”

 

“Even the one who gave Akihiko his power just wants to keep things under his control,” Makoto remarked with venom in every vowel. “Why else would he wait till now to do something?”

 

“I don’t recall informing thee of the true leadership behind the Room.”

 

“It’s obvious that Igor’s oblivious to the big picture behind everything. I’ve figured it out: their memories are definitely being erased. Someone or something doesn’t want them to remember every time the year resets. You know who or what it is?”

 

“…He is called Philemon. He is master of the Velvet Room, and all personae, himself a being of pure consciousness…”

 

It was looking a lot cleaner this time around, the velvet room. It’s inhabitants also looked more presentable than last time, wearing calm professional smiles on their faces for their guest. Akihiko was allowed to take a while to collect himself and realise just where he was before Igor addressed him.

 

“Welcome back, Mr Sanada. I see now that you have awoken to your new power,” he began, his smile growing as he did. “It is quite wonderful, isn’t it? It is after all, the power of the World.”

 

Akihiko was completely lost on his meaning. The significance didn’t quite go over his head thanks to the name itself and just how pleased Igor looked as he revealed it. “The World?”

 

“Yes. As you may know, shadows and persona are very closely connected with the human fortune telling tools called Tarot Cards.” Akihiko had indeed been let in on some of the research information over the years, though most went ignored or uncomprehended. “Anyone familiar with these cards would know that the World is, to put it simply, the ‘best’ card in the deck,” he informed happily.

 

Akihiko thought to himself “It’s not that simple…” but held his tongue. He hadn’t full confidence in his knowledge, anyway.

 

“You have been granted this power because you alone are capable of wielding it! With the World’s power, you will be its saviour! And it is our responsibility to assist you in your heroic task.” Finally finished, Igor remained silent; and gave Akihiko some much needed answers.

 

Makoto tried to enjoy the cool night air as much as possible, but his racing mind would have none of that. Atop the roof of the school, he walked with purpose as he conversed with his companion.

 

“Tell me, Janus.”

 

“Yes, Makoto Yuuki?”

 

“Why is it that you couldn’t reach me until I’d stopped signing the contract?”

 

“I have a suspicion that thou hast deduced for thyself, but… It is in ultimate relation with the nature of our bond,” Janus started. He sounded like something of a teacher to Makoto: as if he was enjoying his explaining this to him. Makoto found that he was himself having fun listening to him. The daemon was by far the most interesting development in his life in a very long time. Makoto knew not how to feel about this yet. “To bring this into clearer light, our contract is something that entwineth our very existences together. Thou hast in agreeing upon this arrangement welcomed me into thine heart; and for such a miracle to be performed, criteria need be met.”

 

Makoto stopped walking: he believed he’d reached his destination, the area which would every night become the peak of Tartarus. He marked the concrete there as he continued to listen carefully.

 

“We must be similar enough for our existence as one to be possible. Physical, mental and spiritual structure. Enough of these things must be equal to the extent that we may work in harmony.”

 

“Is that so? Tell me then, Janus: what have we in common?” he enquired with a smile, as he returned to the edge of the roof. It was something of a cynical smile. Makoto was enjoying conversation, not with a close friend or lover. He’d given up on all that he’d once held dear by now. No, he was having more fun than he’d had in the longest time with a god half-living in his head.

 

“Thou dost indeed know already what I tell thee?” Janus replied. Makoto gave no answer, waiting for him to continue. Janus was impressed. “Our minds and hearts in actual fact differ very little. We may not have much in common in appearance, but our bodies too have similarities. We both see through eyes that have born witness to more than most mortals’. Our way of thinking is beyond those moving through time in a straight line. Also, our existence is something incomprehensible to those not enlightened to the true ways of the universe.”

 

Makoto smirked, “We’re both time-travellers,” he summarised elegantly. Why was he able to smile about something that tormented him so? Janus, he was a kindred spirit someone who could truly know how Makoto felt and what he’d been through. Most importantly, he was the end of Makoto’s strife. He was what gave Makoto the courage to believe that there was a conclusion to it all, that all wasn’t for nought. For that, he was eternally grateful to Janus, his friend.

 

“In answer to thy prior question,” Janus started. Makoto’s expression lost much of its light then.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Without the Velvet Room’s contract enshackling thee, thou art more like me in nature. I am free to roam through the passages of time as I please.”

 

“That doesn’t sound much like me…” Makoto remarked, eyes drooping as he reached the edge of the roof. He held his hand out from his body and clenched his fist when Janus flew into it, manifesting his physical form. He grabbed onto Janus’s arm, and Janus hopped off of the roof to gently float down to the bottom.

 

“The match needeth not be perfect. Just, close enough. It is fortunate: I needed not alter thy body to meet the requirements.”

 

“You can do that?”

 

“Any daemon can; and if they deem it necessary, they will.” It sounded like a warning. Makoto took it to heart, along with all the implications that accompanied it.

 

“Hast thou decided on what will be done about Akihiko Sanada?” Janus asked as they landed. Janus reverted back into his invisible form.

 

“We won’t worry about him, at not least for now. They definitely haven’t told him everything already: they wouldn’t want him to do anything rash. Even when they do, he’ll never be able to stop me; of that I’m sure. No matter what kind of power they give him, they picked me first. He’ll always be second-best.”

 

Akihiko woke with a start in the hospital room, instantly alerting his visitor.

 

“Akihiko, are you okay?” It was Mitsuru. Akihiko looked at her oddly for a second before averting his gaze elsewhither.

 

“Y-yeah, fine. Sorry, just had a weird dream while I was out.” He looked around the room before asking the obvious. “What happened?”

 

“I was hoping you could tell me.” Mitsuru had given the obvious answer in return, to his chagrin.

 

“..I’m not sure, but a lot of stuff’s going on for sure.”

 

Mitsuru was looking especially concerned even moreso than Akihiko would expect. “Akihiko… is everything okay?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Personas don’t just change, Akihiko. They’re an image of who we are. What’s changed, Akihiko?”

 

He gave it some thought. Ideally, Mitsuru wouldn’t be so quick to ask someone not fully conscious such a big question; but he knew her better than to expect that. Akihiko smiled slightly. “I guess I’m just getting more serious about all this, Mitsuru. Don’t worry: I’m fine. Never been better.”

 

Mitsuru didn’t know how to react in response, thus she just gave him a quick “Okay” before standing up. “You should probably get more rest. You’ve been out for a day, you know.”

 

“Seriously? Aww man, I was just getting settled into a new routine, too!” he responded exaggeratedly. Mitsuru chuckled lightly, before turning to leave the room.

 

“I guess I shouldn’t worry after all. He’s still Akihiko,” she thought to herself.

 

It was at that instant that Akihiko received an intense shocking sensation, accompanied with a loud sound like breaking glass. Following that was the voice in his head.

 

“Thou art I. I am thou,” it roared. It was almost unbearably loud. Akihiko clutched his head which started to ache. “Thou shalt have the blessing of the Empress when thou usest thy power…” Much to Akihiko’s relief, it faded into a whisper up until the last word when he was left again in silence. He breathed a sigh of relief as the throbbing in his head also came to a gradual close.

 

“What have I gotten myself into?”


	8. New Friends Old Foe

1/5

The Velvet Room, Nyarlathotep, a picture. Those were the images that had decided to intrude their way into Makoto's head last night. He tried to remember the details, but his efforts were in vain.

The Velvet Room, Nyarlathotep, and...

No, there was no chance of recovery of that dream. It didn't really matter anyway.

"Makoto Yuuki, we're arrived." Janus brought his mind back to the school train in which he was seated. Beside him were Yukari, looking into a mirror, and Junpei, playing a portable video game. Makoto wordlessly got up to stand in front of the door. The other two followed suit.

"Hey, you guys finish all that homework for Japanese?" 'Twas Junpei who rudely interrupted the dull silence between the three.

Yukari scoffed, "That feature-length essay? Yeah, somehow I reached the minimum length; but I'm sure that won't count for anything when I get my results."

"Well hey, you've at least already done better than me," Junpei sighed. He turned to Makoto in front of him, staring blankly out the window as the train at last came to a stop. "What about you, Ray of Happiness?"

"...Finished it," he plainly responded as he strode out to school.

"Heh, thought I'd get an answer like that," Makoto heard from behind him.

"Glad to see your catching on then. Only took you a few weeks," Makoto thought.

"Heh, that must be some kind of new record for him!" Makoto stopped dead in his tracks. Quickly, he looked all around him; but couldn't locate any possible source for the voice he'd just heard. It was definitely female, and sounded so close to him; almost like... "Teehee, can't catch me that easily, sourpuss. See ya later~." The voice left him. Somehow, he understood that it's source was gone... wherever it had been in the first place. Not wanting the others to catch up and question his behaviour, Makoto hurried along his way to school.

* * *

It was after school, and Akihiko was currently standing at the school's entrance as the figure he'd been waiting for approached him.

"What is it this time, Aki?" asked the large hunched boy in the trench coat.

"Shinji, I need to know if you've noticed anything odd about apathy syndrome recently. Things've been... hectic back at SEES," Akihiko informed. If Shinjiro wanted the details, he could have them; but Akihiko knew he'd not ask.

"Saw two more of the zombies just yesterday, and you know that guy I was telling you about before? Kid's gotten a lot worse again. It's weird 'cause he was just after getting a bit better less than a month ago," Shinjiro reported.

"A month ago, huh?" Why did that bother Akihiko? "Alright, anything else?"

"I'm not payed to work fulltime, Detective. That's it."

"You can always come back to working fulltime, you know. In fact, we've recently gotten three new members; and begun exploring Tartarus for real. We could really use-"

"I'm not coming back, Aki. There's nothing that'll change my mind about that," he interrupted with force as he turned to walk away.

"There is, Shinji; you're wrong. Once I find it, I'm bringing you back where you belong."

"Tch, whatever. I don't have time for your shit..." With that, he lumbered off into the distance. Akihiko watched his back get smaller until-

SMASH

Akihiko let out a roar of pain and fell onto his knees, clutching his head as a terrible voice boomed in his head, "THOU ART I. I AM THOU. THOU SHALT HAVE THE BLESSING OF THE TOWER WHEN THOU USEST THY POWER." Akihiko took deep breaths to allleviate the horrific headache as he waited for the voice to dissipate.

Finally, he could feel the pain subside; and opened his eyes to see that many around him were looking his way. "Akihiko-senpai! You alright man?" Turning, Akihiko saw that it was Junpei running up to him with a face of concern. At this stage, most onlookers went off on their way home, thankfully.

Akihiko sighed one last time before standing up. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I don't know... what that was," he said, trying - and of course failing - to sound reassuring.

"Your head hurt man? You wanna see the nurse?"

"Nurse? Hah! That guy would just make me even worse," he answered with a smile. Suddenly, he remembered that he'd asked something of Junpei earlier. "Oh yeah, Junpei, you got the roster like I asked?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Here." Junpei took out of his pocket and handed Akihiko the folded class roster for 2-E. "Why do you need that, anyway?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you until I know for sure that it's necessary, sorry."

"Ah, I get it. Official SEES business then, right? That's cool, man; that's cool," Junpei replied with a cheery grin. Akihiko looked at him incredulously.

"You know, I really don't get you..."

"Heh, what's there to get? I'm just havin' a blast knowing I'm part of something right now. It feels pretty cool, you know?" he asked with something of a glint in his eyes.

"Uh, I guess so."

"But man, it must feel so awesome being leader, huh? Leadin' the charge and whatnot."

"It's not really that great," Akihiko informed, sounding a bit jaded. "I mean, I have to worry about all you guys, right?"

"Oh, I guess... Or, no wait, don't we all have to worry about each other?" Junpei asked. "I mean, maybe I can't speak for everyone on the team; but for the most part, we've all got to have each other's backs, right?" Akihiko had to admit he was rather stunned by this sudden break in Junpei's character.

"Huh, yeah, you're right. We're all part of the team, I guess." When was the last time he'd thought like that? Back when Shinjiro was still...

The pair continued on their way until they reached the dorm. As they walked closer to the door, Akihiko spoke up one last time. "Hey Junpei, thanks for getting this for me," he began, waving the paper still in his hand, "And for, you know..."

"Sure, don't mention it," he replied with a friendly grin as he entered the dorm. Akihiko too reached for the door as it began to close behind Junpei.

SMASH

Akihiko pulled back his arm so as to let the door close as he winced from the shock of yet another boom within his head. "THOU ART I, AND I AM THOU. THOU SHALT HAVE THE BLESSING OF THE MAGICIAN WHEN THOU USEST THY POWER." It receded faster than before, implying he might one day get used to the excrutiating pain; but for now, it hurt.

* * *

Once again, the city was a putrid shade of green. Makoto lay on his back along the edge of the dorm's roof, one arm hanging off the side, with a thoughtful expression.

"Thinkest thou of thine encounter this morning?" asked Janus, currently drifting above Makoto's face, seemingly taking a place in the starless green sky.

"Yeah. Just not sure what to think of everything you told me," Makoto replied, turning his head towards Tartarus. "Another daemon, huh? What could they want with little old me?"

"From thy description, it is unclear what sort of conclusions to draw. It could have been any number of deceivers and tricksters, or pawns of another greater daemon worthy of more apprehension."

First Janus, and now another mysterious being has appeared with an interest in him. Though from the limited contact he had, this one certainly seemed to be of a nature different from Janus's. That girlish voice with such a playful tone. Personae such as Succubus came to mind. "Well, whenever we get to see more of it, it'll certainly be interesting."

"I feel I need remind thee to be cautious in dealing with this matter, Makoto Yuuki," Janus spoke in earnest.

"I get it. This isn't necessarily a good or bad thing. As long as I have you to keep my head straight though, I ought to be able to resist temptation," he said with a smirk. Things were getting almost too interesting almost too fast.

* * *

9/5

"Welcome back to the Velvet Room, Mr. Sanada. Don't look so alarmed. You are safe and sound asleep in the real world." For some reason, reassurances from Igor did nothing for Akihiko. "We have brought you hither today to inform that you are about to face a tasking ordeal. Time is short, so we shall be quick." Igor then nodded his peculiar head at the assistant to his left, the one with longer, tied up hair. She opened a large book and looked into it before speaking.

"So far, you've awakened three social links, on two of which progress has already been made. This means that summoning Ahura Mazda should be much... easier on you. As well, we shall soon have gathered enough power to create another persona for you soon, as we've explained. You will need your power tonight Mr. Sanada. Use it, well." Abruptly, Akihiko saw the velvet room flying away from him into nowhere.

"But I still-"

"Akihiko, wake up!"

* * *

Snapping awake, Akihiko found himself resting on the control panel in the meeting room. "Huh?"

"How did you manage to fall asleep?" Mitsuru asked in disbelief. "Akihiko, I've detected a shadow outside of Tartarus, even larger than the Magician."

"You don't mean-"

"An arcana shadow. Quick, wake everyone up and bring them with you to the train station. I'll have to catch up once I'm prepared. Wait for me."

"Got it!" Rushing down the stairs, he dashed to Yukari's door and pounded furiously. "Get up, Yukari!" Keeping it simple, he proceeded down to the next floor and did the same with the boys' rooms; and then awaited them at the lobby. Makoto was first down, but was quickly followed by the other pair. "There's a shadow at the train station. Biggest we've seen so far. If you're all ready, we're gonna go right now." With no one having any objections, they set off.

* * *

"The shadow is in the far end of that train. Unfortunately, you'll have to enter to face it," Mitsuru informed the group.

"Damn it," muttered Akihiko, looking down the railline to see that all the doors bar the one nearest them were closed. "Alright, everyone in after is clearly a set up, so be ready for anything." Akihiko led the way up the ladder. Once he stepped onboard, he heard Yukari warning Junpei not to look up her skirt.

"What about Makoto?"

"He goes without saying!"

"The hell!?"

Akihiko rolled his eyes at the juniors. Once Junpei was up after Yukari, the whole train shook. The door suddenly closed, trapping them in. "Huh? What`s going on?" Yukari asked, panicked.

Junpei attempted to reopen the door. "Damn it! It won't bu- Ah!" The three were almost knocked to their feet by the force of the train abruptly accelerating at breakneck speed.

"Makoto!"

Back on the tracks stood the hoodie himself. "Hmph, can't really say I'm surprised. Was the shadow scared after detecting our presence, or was it just unable to do so?"

"Most likely the latter."

"Aw~ Now they're off to have all the fun without us..." Makoto swiftly looked in all directions; but again, there was no visible source of that voice.

"Did you hear it, Janus?"

"Nay, and I sense no presence, either."

"My voice is for your ears only. Don't worry, I'll just be watching you, very closely."

"It says it'll be watching us."

"'It'!? That's so mean~!"

"For now, we need to find a way of catching up." Makoto looked around him, trying to think. What could he do at this stage? He believed the others capable of handling the Priestess, but after that...

"Yuuki, can you ride a motorcycle?"

* * *

"We need to hurry! Get to the conductor car before we hit something!" The three took off as fast as their legs could carry. Yukari was already falling behind when a shadow fell from the ceiling to further separate her. "Yukari!" Akihiko and Junpei turned when more shadows appeared so as to surround them on both sides. Junpei swang his sword without a word at the first enemy. It was enough to slice it open until it became lodged in the middle of its body. Trying to remove it, he was vulnerable to this shadow's attack, a blast of frigid air that knocked Junpei off his feet. The shadow turned to Yukari, sword still protruding from its core.

Yukari had by now readied her bow, however; and took the shot, now with no risk of friendly fire. The shadow died with a howl. She could now see Akihiko caught in a fight with a larger group than there'd been before. Junpei had just finished getting up, and quickly ran to help. The small train car allowed no space for Yukari to take a safe shot, so she reached for her evoker to heal the pair when, "Aah! H-help!" A pair of mias grabbed each of her arms and moved to begin beating Yukari to the ground.

Akihiko heard the scream and glanced over, just in time to be swiped at by a tiara and yanked down to the floor.

"Senpai!" Now in a mad panic, Akihiko didn't deliberate. He struggled to reach for his evoker. Finally securing a grip on it against the will of the shadow holding him down, he brought it slowly towards his temple. As it neared, a maya grabbed the evoker and tried to wrench it from Akihiko. Just as the evoker was pulled towards the maya, it just passed by Akihiko's head near enough for him to pull the trigger.

"PERSONA!" A burning, blinding, piercing white light filled the car. Sick screeches accompanied by the sound of evaporating liquid resounded throughout. When Akihiko opened his eyes, he couldn't believe them. All of the shadows had been purged.

"Junpei! Yukari! Are you okay?"

"Senpai, here!" Akihiko turned to see Junpei on his knees, holding up a rather bruised Yukari with half-shut eyes.

"Yukari!"

"It's fine..." she croaked as she pulled up her evoker. Io was summoned forth and quickly cast dia upon Yukari. Yukari took a deep breath as her pain faded and skin cleared up substantially. Junpei let go of her to let her stand up. "Let's keep going!"

* * *

"Do you really think we can do it?" Makoto asked as he rode at full speed, the train speeding beside him on the parallel track. Slowly, he pulled ahead.

"I am certain it is within our capabilities. It mattereth not if Akihiko Sanada succeedeth or faileth. Their lives shall be spared."

"I'll definitely be impressed if you can pull this off," spoke the sweet soft voice of the unknown daemon.

"Just you wait, then."

"Ah! You talked back to me!"

* * *

After some much smaller-scale interferences, the three reached the last car.

"Yuuki is in pursuit to offer assistance, but I don't know if he'll reach you in time. Proceed at your own discretion. "

"Alright, this is it. We're just gonna go in there and use our personas right away, okay?" Junpei and Yukari nodded their affirmatives.

The three burst into the room and all let out their personas at once. The Priestess sent its minions at them only to blown away by Hermes's flames augmented by Io's garu. Akihiko's persona, Ahura Mazda, finished materialising, folding its great wings to fit within the car. Lifting its hand, it once again called forth its almighty beam of light. The Priestess screamed in agony, and attempted to create a shield of ice. It melted faster than it could regenerate, as did the Priestess herself until finally Ahura Mazda disappeared. Akihiko hunched over, gasping from exertion. The Priestess's entire stomach had been melted through.

"Don't worry, Senpai! We'll take it from here!" Again, two crashing sounds reverberated across the car as Hermes and Io reappeared. "Let's do this!" Hermes charged forth, surrounded by flames. All around him, the windows of the car smashed inwards; and a massive gust of wind pushed him towards the shadow. The Priestess fired razor-sharp shards of ice at Hermes only for them to melt or be blown away as Hermes got even closer until he sliced his blades ablaze right across the Priestess's soft neck.

Powerless, the rest of the Priestess's form at last collapsed into a thick black sludge before evaporating entirely.

Akihiko, Yukari, and Junpei all looked at each other with smiles.

"Heh, heheh, we did it!"

"Th-then, why are we still moving!?"

Akihiko sprinted into the conductor room, and was faced by the controls. The other two ran in.

"W-w-we got to stop it!"

"Senpai, we gotta try something!"

Akihiko reached for the first lever in reached and yanked it down.

* * *

"Yuuki, you're well ahead of the train. Do you have a plan?"

Makoto pressed the button on his communicator to respond. "Yeah, I've got something in mind. Just in case things don't go well."

He reached the other train, the one the others are going to crash into. He stopped and got off the bike as quickly as he could; and stood on the tracks, facing the inevitable. "Get ready, Janus," he said as he reached up and brought him into existence.

Janus quickly stepped forward as Makoto stepped back until his back almost touched the stationary train. "Wow, you guys look so cool right now~."

* * *

"Senpai, it's not stopping!" They watched as the train rounded a bend until something came into sight at the end of a straight. "IS THAT MAKOTO!?"

Akihiko pulled another lever, but it wouldn't budge . Thinking, he tried pushing back up the previous lever first. That seemed to work, but help it did not.

"Try another one, QUICK!"

* * *

"Goddamn meathead's speeding it up!"

"Seriously, the people you associate with."

"Come on Janus!" The train finally began to screech. The brakes had been pulled just before the train met with Janus, braced for impact. Janus clenched his grip on each side of the train's front as he was forcefully pushed back. His feet dragged across the concrete floor with enough rigidity to break it apart. The train was slowing, but not nearly fast enough. Makoto could now see the other three members inside, screaming and shouting for him to move. "Not an option." The train was now near enough for Makoto to get to work, perhaps 200 metres.. Holding out his hands, he willed the approaching train away from him. His ability's effect increased exponentially as it neared him, but still...

"Come on, slow down!" Still it got closer and closer. 100 metres. Why wasn't it stopping!? 50 metres... Makoto shut his eyes tight. Was it actually not enough..? Was this the end?

Were they really going to die?

No.

"NO! NOT THIS TIME!" Suddenly, a visible shockwave erupted forth from Makoto's outstretched arms. The train slowed and slowed. Then crept. Then halted. Makoto opened his eyes. His hands were in contact with Janus's back. Janus simply let go of the train - the metal clearly bent where his hands had been - and stood straight. The visor on the back of his helmet, belonging to the rusty, old half of his body, stared down at Makoto.

"We have prevailed, Makoto Yuuki." He then vanished before him, becoming once again a ball of light.

Makoto said nothing back.

* * *

Akihiko was first to reopen his eyes and realise they weren't dead. "We, we're alright?"

"We... didn't..?"

Moving with shakey legs to the windscreen, he looked down to see Makoto on his knees, hardly any distance at all from the train. "Makoto!" Stumbling out of the train, Akihiko hurried over to him. "Makoto, hey, you alright?"

Makoto barely opened his eyes, and looked up at Akihiko. "... Fine. Why..?"

"Come on, man. This isn't the time to be a smartass." Yukari and Junpei walked up behind Akihiko, staring at Makoto in awe.

"Dude, you... that was you, wasn't it?" Makoto looked back down at the ground with a troubled face.

"Can we just go back now?" He tried to stand up, but fell as his legs tried to straighten.

"Woah!" Akihiko just managed to catch him. "Easy there, let us help you back. Here, gimme a hand, Junpei." The two of them had each of Makoto's arms wrapped around their shoulders as they set off for home.

"Makoto?" Yukari spoke up as they walked along. Makoto glanced in her direction in acknowledgement. "Thank you" was all she said. A simple smile adorned her face as she did so.

"Yeah man, you saved our lives. I mean... it's weird to think, but we'd literally all be dead if it weren't for you," Junpei praised.

All around him, they wore smiles of gratitude. It felt odd for Makoto. It felt... familiar. It had been a while since he felt so... involved with these people. As they slowly trekked back, Makoto kept his mouth shut and his gaze pointed at the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Think I'm happy with this one. I certainly hope you readers are. I'm so excited for what's to come soon. The story as I really envisioned it is finally taking shape! All we need now are some more questionable motivations for Akihiko and of course more voices in Makoto's head! :D
> 
> Review! Please? It'll cheer poor auld Makoto up, I'm sure.


	9. Chapter 9: Fear the Reaper Man

15/5

Of course, that picture. The image cleared up in Makoto's sleeping mind, revealing its identity at last. It was the picture that SEES had taken on the night of their celebration of the Hanged Man's defeat. The memory of that picture... had never really been a happy one. After all, later that night had been a terrible experience for everyone; but that very moment had indeed been very happy. They had been together, altogether. Junpei had messed around as usual; Akihiko had told him to knock it off. Koromaru had even jumped in at the last moment, completely ruining the picture. But that only made it all the funnier to remember. Even happier had Makoto been the second time it had occurred. Makoto, that night, had a plan to save Mitsuru's father's life. How could he have held back the great smile the camera captured that night?

That smile didn't last.

It faded, little by little. It became clouded over by something that wasn't happiness. All around him, the other members of SEES were delighted, because at that moment, for them, they had triumphed together. They had all pulled through and were filled with relief, excitement, and joy. Makoto just felt lonely.

It wasn't even fear of what he knew was to come; it was simply that at that moment, Makoto was the only one who knew what to expect. Makoto was the only one who knew how to stop Nyx. Makoto was the only one who'd been through it all before; the only one fed up with it all.

Makoto was the only one without a smile.

* * *

"Yo, Yuka-tan, you got nothin' to do either?" Junpei asked, having just come down the stairs to the lobby, seeing Yukari on the couch watching tv. They should both have been studying at that time, given that their mid-terms were a few days away.

"Depends, are you going to ask me to go somewhere if I haven't?" she responded.

"Yikes, that's cold, dude. Come on, you know if you hang around here too long, Mitsuru-senpai's gonna ask why you're not studying. Do you want to have to deal with that?" He had a point, unfortunately.

"Mm, alright fine," she conceded. She didn't exactly sound happy, but that didn't matter! Junpei was much happier to hang out with a begrudging Yukari than no Yukari at all.

"Alright! Let's go to the movies!" With that, he was already off.

"You better not think of this as a date!" yelled Yukari as she followed him out.

"Yeah, yeah."

The two seniors, sitting in their rooms, studying in complete silence, could hear the whole exchange. Mitsuru pressed on with her work, trying to block it from distracting her. Akihiko smirked to himself, trying to imagine what those would be like as a couple. "Nah, there's no way," he said to himself.

He then noticed that they hadn't thought to ask Makoto along. "Yuuki..." He'd saved their lives but a few days ago; the least they could have done was ask him. Although, it was perfectly reasonable to expect a flat-out "No" from the guy; but still, that attitude wouldn't improve without intervention.

Since when was Akihiko so interested in others' business? Maybe because he was their leader now? That was just a title though: that wouldn't explain it. Perhaps... the Velvet Room had something to do with it?

* * *

"Miss?" Makoto called as he raised his hand.

"Yes, Yuuki-kun?" answered Ms Toriumi.

"I'm finished," he informed, now getting up from his seat and walking up the classroom, test in hand. Ms Toriumi looked suspicious.

"Did you answer all the questions? You can't be done yet: you've another hour left."

"Yes, I'm finished, Miss." He handed over the test. Ms Toriumi looked through it quickly, turning the pages quickly as she did. She eyed Makoto, now thinking he'd somehow cheated.

"Alright, Yuuki, you may leave." Makoto gave a short bow, and walked out briskly. The whole thing had been a huge distraction for the rest of the class, of whom many had watched the whole short exchange. Yukari and Junpei included. As the door shut, heads went back down.

The next day, Ms Toriumi kept an especially watchful eye over Makoto as he filled in his exam. He wasn't cheating; he was just answering everything with clearly no thought put into it whatsoever. Suddenly, his pen dropped; and his hand rose. "Miss."

"...Yes, Yuuki?"

"I'm finished." One hour and ten minutes to spare.

"Yuuki, at least go over your answers for a while." Makoto nodded, expressionless; and began staring at his exam. Ten minutes later, and he was staring up the classroom, as if indirectly glaring at the teacher. Ms Toriumi told him he may go.

* * *

25/5

"Gah, that asshole!" Junpei roared, grinding his teeth with roaring flames in his pupils.

"Woah, calm down, Stupei! What the heck's wrong!?" asked Yukari, who'd just left the classroom.

"Everything's wrong with the world, Yuka-tan! J-just look!" he exclaimed, pointing dramatically at the sheet pinned to the notice board on the left-hand side of the door, now surrounded by students.

"Oh, the exam results! Did you see mine?"

"Yeah, you got five 'C's and two 'B's; anyway, look at who's on top!"

Yukari gave Junpei a look of incredulity before moving closer to see what was so damn important to him. She looked at the top as was asked, and saw it. She returned to Junpei, with a frown that made her look like she'd just been asked a really hard riddle. "...Huh."

"Waddya mean 'Huh'? That's all ya got to say? Aw man, I've been telling myself every time he left early, 'There's at least no way I'm doing worse than him!' and now... rrrgh! Oh my God, I swear, if he walks out that room... and..." Junpei stopped abruptly, confusing Yukari until she turned around. The two watched on as Makoto, earphones equipped and hands in pockets, walked out the classroom door; turned right, and walked down the corridor. "I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill him, Yukari."

Yukari couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, Stupei. It's not his fault he's smart. Maybe he's the kind of guy who just studies constantly."

"But he's never at the dorm!"

"It's called a library, Stupei. You might have heard about it somewhere. Anyway, I'm glad he's good at something other than killing shadows. I was a bit worried about him."

"...Worried?"

"He did save our lives, Stupei. Is it that weird to start showing a bit of concern?"

"Uh, well, I guess not..." Junpei didn't want to admit it, but he did feel like a bit of a dick just then. Something hit him then. "Speakin' of which..." he started with a frown, "What does Makoto fight for?"

"Makoto?" Yukari asked dumbly in response. It was an unexpected question, and a hard one at that, one she'd asked herself a few times before. "...There's something." That was her answer.

"...Something?"

"Yeah, I mean, don't you get that vibe too? He might seem like someone with no direction, but I think that's just an illusion. He fights too hard for someone with nothing to fight for, but I don't know what his reason is. We don't know anything about him..." That seriously bothered Yukari. "He doesn't know us either. Heck, he doesn't want to know. Yet still, he went and did that..." Memories of the night on the railway sprung into both of their minds.

"...Yeah. He... totally risked his life for our sake." Junpei didn't like to acknowledge that. He didn't like the idea of Makoto being able to do such a thing... which he wasn't sure he could. "Why?"

"I guess we'd have to ask to find out." That was the problem.

* * *

Makoto sat atop the edge of his pier. Hither would he come everyday during the exams. He had a lot to think about.

"Things have certainly changed this time."

"Wherefore sayest thou?"

"They're not going to realise that Fuuka has the potential. After all, Akihiko's not in hospital," Makoto informed with neutral tone. "I've stopped Akihiko from being injured before. It was reparable before by my starting a social link with her early, but the subsequent complication made it clear that it was preferable to let Akihiko be hospitalised."

"And thus ensure thy leadership anew."

"Which is why I had to make things hard for myself," Makoto conceded with a frown. Shutting his eyes, he let out a sigh; and breathed deeply in time with the calm waves around him. "Oh well, " he eventually spoke up. "We'll just have to stumble upon her getting locked in, I suppose."

"And rescue her alone?"

"We'll be in well before the full moon. All we need to do thereafter is reach the nearest teleporter, or at least a window; and then you can float us down."

"A sound plan. Should something go wrong?"

"We've time to concider back ups."

* * *

27/5

Another night, another foray into Tartarus. "Wait, everyone," Mitsuru spoke in all their minds. The group, who had been walking down the corridor cautiously, all paused. "There's a formidable shadow around the corner at the end of that hallway. It is blocking the way to the next floor. The left turn just ahead of you also leads to the enemy. If you split up here, you can attack the shadow from opposite sides, giving you an advantage. Akihiko, what you do is your decision."

Akihiko wasn't much for tactics, but Mitsuru made it pretty clear for him what action to take."Oh, oh! Senpai! Let me lead one team, and I'll go around while you charge in straight ahead!" That suggestion was, of course, Junpei's

"Alright, Junpei, you're with me. Yuuki, you and Yukari take the left path," Akihiko ordered, completely ignoring Junpei.

"Got it," replied Makoto. He looked to Yukari, who seemed hesitant somewhat, and walked off with her following behind.

"The hell, man? Why you gotta put him in charge of beta squad?" Junpei protested.

"Beta...? Whatever, it's because he's proven himself more than capable of handling things himself."

"Sure, he's fine himself; but what about Yukari?"

"Are you trying to say he won't help her if they get into trouble?" asked Akihiko in a way that told Junpei not to give the wrong answer. Junpei gritted his teeth.

"No, senpai." The two proceeded without a word.

Being alone with Makoto made Yukari uncomfortable; there was no putting it lightly. She wasn't sure if she should say anything, or if there was even anything to say. As such, she decided she'd only speak if spoken to. She walked on, until Makoto, in front of her, raised his hand up to indicate that she should stop. They were a few steps away from a right turn. "Everyone is in position," spoke Mitsuru. "On my mark, both pairs will attack simultaneously."

"If I might offer a suggestion?" Makoto quietly spoke up.

"...Yes, Yuuki?" Mitsuru responded. Akihiko and Junpei were only privy to her side of the conversation.

"I recommend Yukari and I use ranged attacks to lure the shadow towards us. When its back is definitely to Akihiko and Junpei, then they can round the corner and attack." Mitsuru listened intently, and then relayed the plan to the other two. Yukari was looking quite surprised by the sudden interjection; Junpei was unhappy that the suggestion had come from him, and Akihiko silently considered the idea.

"Yeah, sounds good," he said. "Tell him to go ahead."

"You're taking orders from him now?" Akihiko turned around as one who'd heard an insult to his mother from behind.

"Listen, Junpei, being a leader is more than telling others what to do. If you have something **useful** to say, I'll hear it."

"Tch."

"Alright, ready your bow. Aim for the mask," instructed Makoto coolly. "Turn back around the corner should it get within three metres of you. Fire as you retreat from it."

"Shouldn't I use my persona at all?"

"It might resist or reflect it back. Just rely on your aim: it's less risky." Makoto of course already knew that wind was useless against this foe.

"Time is growing short, Yuuki."

"Got it." Makoto raised his hand to reach for Janus. He grasped him; and in a flash of light, Janus appeared before the two. "Tank its attacks for Yukari," Makoto ordered him. Janus nodded, and walked to the corner. Makoto nodded to Yukari, puzzled by Makoto's instructing his own persona, to tell her to go too. Quickly, she nodded and jogged up the hall.

With a deep breath, she pulled an arrow from her quiver and readied it. She then rapidly rounded the corner after Janus, and searched for the shadow. Before them stood a massive Iron Maiden, perhaps three to four metres tall. It turned towards them somehow, scraping against the floor, and opened its doors, revealing an array of huge lances. Not faultering, Yukari aimed up to the object's mask, at the very top.

Janus opened fire on the shadow. The immense LMG rounds steadily tore into the shadow's tougher armoured areas, softening them up. Yukari took her aimed shot, which managed to penetrate the shadow's only soft spot.

Suddenly, Yukari felt a great gust erupt from the shadow. Shielding herself, she moved to get back around the corner, but was lifted up off her feet as she turned. "Aa-!" she began to scream in the air when she was suddenly caught by the waist, and her flight was violently put to a halt. Janus let Yukari carefully down behind him, as the shadow drew within mêlée range.

Makoto rushed at breackneck pace; grabbed Yukari's arm, and pulled her away just in time to avoid Janus being forcefully pushed back by the shadow's lances thrusting out from its belly. Janus's armour held firm, but he was caught within the spikes, thus unable to move.

Enough time had been bought, however. "Janus!" Makoto barked. The giant then disappeared from the enemy's clutches. Right afterwards, the shadow was assaulted from behind by a burst of flame immediately followed by a cleave from Hermes. The blow was indeed a powerful one, but the shadow would not fall. It swiftly rotated and again shot out its spears, piercing Hermes. Its victim then vanished.

"Tch, still alive!?" Junpei shouted. "Hermes!" His persona blasted another volley of flame; but this time, it was blocked by a blast of wind. The wind continued, issuing forth from the shadow towards Akihiko and Junpei, preventing their personae from getting close at all, until it suddely halted when Janus again emerged and plunged his sword into the open Iron Maiden, firing into its mask as he did. The Iron Maiden's doors flailed as the shadow rocked back and forth madly like a dying animal, blasts of wind shooting in all directions.

Akihiko then called forth Ahura Mazda. "Hamaga!" Janus dissipated just in time to avoid Ahura Mazda's attack. Like a ray of light from Heaven on Judgement Day, its radiance dissolved and evaporated the shadow into a black steam, burning a hole in the creature. "Junpei," Akihiko called.

"Huh?"

"You wanna take the kill?" he invited with a smirk. Junpei smiled back.

"Heh, you know it! Hermes!" Hermes flew ahead, cutting the air and then the shadow in the blink of an eye. The top half of the creature slid to the left before falling to the ground. "Heh." Junpei grinned in glee, and turned back to Akihiko. "You know man..." he began, unaware of the brightening light coming from behind him. Makoto's eyes widened in surprise. This had never happened before.

"Get down!" he shouted, stepping in front of Yukari.

"Wha-"

"Huh?"

"Who?" Suddenly, a blast resounded throughout the room that had been their arena. What was left of the shadow's metallic armour shot out all around like the casing of a frag grenade. The bright flash and tremendous boom of the explosion left everyone completely discombobulated for several seconds. Slowly, the ringing in their ears diminished; and they opened their eyes.

"Is everyone alright!?" Mitsuru asked the group. They all looked around them. Makoto had been able to stop any harm coming to him or Yukari, but the other two...

"Akihiko-senpai, you're hurt!" Yukari shouted.

"Hm?" Akihiko looked down and around, spotting the blood running freely down his left arm. "Oh, yeah. It just looks like a cut though."

"Let me look at it, here," Yukari said, approaching him.

"Don't bother. We're running out of time, and we need to find a teleporter."

"No, let me help you, senpai!" Akihiko looked at her, surprised at her protest. "This is what I'm actually good for. Please let me at least feel like I'm doing something important around here." Ah, now Akihiko understood. She hadn't done all that much in the confrontation, and was feeling useless. From how she'd put it, she must have been feeling like this for some time.

"Okay," _"I know just how you feel..."_ he wanted to say. He held out his arm for her, and she got to work. Just a short while later, she was finished.

"There, that should do. You'll be feeling no pain by morning," she assured with a pleased smile.

"...Thanks, Yukari," Akihiko spoke sincerely.

"Don't mention it. Ask anytime."

"THOU ART I." The voice ravaged Akihiko's mind once more. Though it caught him off guard, he managed to get away with just a slight flinch as Yukari was already turning around. "I AM THOU. THOU SHALT HAVE THE BLESSING OF THE LOVERS ARCANA WHEN THOU USEST THY POWER."

Lovers. That made four. The group set of, and was quick to find the teleporter back.

"Good work everyone. Let's get back to the dorms for some rest."

As they were walking back, Junpei took Akihiko aside. "What is it, Junpei?" He was looking somewhat abashed.

"Listen man, I, I've been remembering how I was acting tonight and... Look, I know it's just your job to make sure we all make it back alive; so sorry man," he cut to the chase. "Guess I really don't know anything about being a leader," he admitted.

Akihiko thought on that for a few seconds before responding with, "Neither do I."

"Say what?"

"I was never the leader type, you know. Mitsuru was always the one 'in charge'. Hell, Makoto was the one telling us what to do near the end; not me." He closed his eyes and sighed. "So don't worry about that kind of thing. It's never too late to learn. We'll both have to," he said with a calm smile, which Junpei returned.

"Yeah, alright. I won't let you down, man." With that, Junpei caught back up with the others.

"Ugh, even after what I just said, he's still treating me like he looks up to me..." Akihiko thought to himself.

"THOU ART I." This time, it was anticipated. "I AM THOU. THOU SHALT HAVE THE BLESSING OF THE MAGICIAN WHEN THOU USEST THY POWER." He was starting to get used to this state of affairs, it seemed.

"What are we to do about the World, Makoto Yuuki?"

"I'm not sure," Makoto responded, careful to speak in his mind without actually talking aloud. "To stop him would completely go against what I had in mind before."

"To distance yourself from the others..."

"Whilst letting them get closer to each other, yes," Makoto finished. "From how things are about to end up now though, it appears that'll be even harder to achieve."

"Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Indeed."

* * *

29/5

Tonight was the night. It was now 11:30; the Dark Hour was drawing near. "W-why are we doing this?" asked a small voice in the darkness, that of a diminutive girl amongst a group of other teenage girls. They were all in the uniform of the school in front of which they now stood.

"Just follow us Fuuka, or do you want to be a total buzzkill all your damn life?" responded one of the other girls, Natsuki, Fuuka's friend. Fuuka looked down, and slowly, slightly nodded. "Come on then." They walked up to the gate, and began to climb it.

Makoto was currently in a classroom along the hallway that led to the gym. They'd have to pass through here to get there, which he'd hear. It was a shame that he couldn't just confront them before the Dark Hour, but two major factors opposed such action. Firstly, it would put him under even more suspicion that could lead to him being 'found out'. In other words, the others might begin to realise what he really was, which of course broke the contract. Secondly, he needed Fuuka to disappear for everything to work out anyway. Makoto knew what would happen if he intervened to such an extent. Natsuki wouldn't feel guilty over her disappearance, and try to cut ties with her. Fuuka, having lost her only friend, would become unavoidably clingy to Makoto, the one who'd come for her that night. Makoto needed Natsuki to keep Fuuka off him.

"Where are we going now?"

"You'll see, you'll see!"

11:40. Makoto waited a few more minutes.

The obnoxious laughter of the girls walking back made Makoto check the time again. 11:45. They worked quick. It wasn't time to step in yet. Makoto waited for a while before going to get the key to the gym from the Student Office.

Finally, at 11:55, Makoto headed for the gym. It was hard not to find the room wherein Fuuka'd been locked. It was the only one being pounded on from within. "N-Natsuki-san, please... Please, please let me out..." 11:58 "Natsuki? Is, is that you?" He needed to stall a while longer.

"Who's in there?" he asked.

Fuuka yelped inside. "H-hello?"

"Are you okay?"

"U-umm, I'm... locked in here..." it sounded like tears were starting to fall. Makoto'd probably gotten her hopes up that it was Natsuki come back for her. 11:59

"One second, I'll let you out of there." Makoto turned the key in the lock and slowly opened the door. Fuuka was on her knees on the floor, looking terribly miserable. "Are you alright? Who are you?" Any second now...

"Um, um, I'm fine now," she answered, rubbing her eyes dry. "M-my name's Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Makoto Yuuki," he responded, moving forward from the doorway and holding out a hand to her. He needed to be as close to her a possible. "Need a hand?" Fuuka looked at his hand for a while. With a blush, she reached for it. Then the world turned off the lights.

* * *

"What's up Mitsuru?" asked Akihiko, spotting her in the lounge with an unpleased expression.

"Yuuki's sneaked out again. I think it's about time to crack down on that. I can never detect him with my ability, so we need to make it clear that we won't be able to assist him if he runs into trouble. As his leader, you should be more aware of these things, Akihiko," she answered with a fierce glare that ran shivers down Akihiko's spine.

"Uh, right! I'll look out for him. I was gonna head out anyway. Bye!" He thus sprinted out into the night.

* * *

"Fuu... Fuuka... Fuuka!"

"Huuhh?" Fuuka lazily opened her eyes to see Makoto looming over her, hands on her shoulders. When she realised that, her eyes opened to their full width; and she quickly sat up, almost headbutting Makoto. "Huh, what, where?" She looked all around her. The place was so strange, and scary. A claustrophobically small corridor with gothic walls decorated with disturbing carved faces and a low ceiling that seemed to be... moving. "Where is this!?"

"Relax, you're safe."

"What?" she responded, turning to him in shock. "But where, what's going on!? Who are you!?"

"I told you, I'm Makoto Yuuki. You're in a place called Tartarus: it's very dangerous and we need to get out as soon as possible."

Fuuka wasn't getting it. It was just far too sudden, all of this. "I don't... understand... and... I thought you said I was safe?"

"You are. I'm here. Now listen carefully to what I'm about to say," he spoke coolly, with much authority. Fuuka complied as best she could. "Close your eyes and clear your mind. Focus on the sounds you hear, all around you."

With confidence, she did as she was told. There was obviously nothing to listen to once Makoto had stopped talking the place was dead silent. Wait... "Ah!" she screamed and opened her eyes. Her worried expression told Makoto everything he needed to know.

"What's wrong?"

"T-there's something... something really scary down that way!" She pointed down the hall.

"And the other way?"

"Um, I don't get the same feeling there... Yuuki-san, what's going on?"

"So you can detect them... that's handy. We'll go the way that's clear then. Come on; stand up." Makoto grabbed her arm, lifted her up, and began walking ahead with her wrist in his hand. Fuuka followed along quietly. She was still too lost to have any reason to rebel. "What you felt," began Makoto, "was a shadow. They're monsters that will attack us on sight. You can sense their presence, which means-" Makoto felt Fuuka stop, resisting his pull. He turned back to look at her. "What?"

"You're... going the wrong way. That's a dead end." Makoto looked at her blankly for a second, making her feel very uncomfortable.

"Okay," he finally responded. "We need to get to a stairway that leads down. Can you find that?"

Fuuka looked down at the floor and furrowed her brow. Quickly, she looked back up at Makoto and pointed to their right, down a different hall. They then were off.

* * *

"Yuuki-san!"

"What now?"

"There's a whole group of them around the corner, and that's the only way to the stairway!" Makoto looked at the air above his left shoulder.

"I need to stay with her. I'll have to rely on you."

"Understood, Makoto Yuuki."

"W-what are you...?" Fuuka stopped her enquiry when suddenly a humungous suit of armour appeared in a flash of light. Panicking, she screamed and tried to run away; but Makoto held firmly onto her.

"It's okay, he's on our side," Makoto assured, as Janus walked off to deal with the threat. Fuuka continued to struggle until she felt the shadows' presences disappear one by one. "He's with us," Makoto repeated. Janus returned in his ethereal form. "Come on, we've got to keep going."

* * *

At last, they came upon a wide room that had been home to a larger shadow. "This is it, Fuuka."

"Hmm?"

"We're getting out he-" Makoto stopped dead in his tracks. Fuuka looked to what had shocked him so. It looked like some sort of machine, but it was in a terrible state, like it'd been intentionally smashed up. Needless to say Fuuka was confused.

"Yuuki-san?" Makoto knew what this could only mean.

"Fuuka, we're running from now on, got it?"

"Huh?"

"Forget what I said earlier. We're not safe."

Makoto took off, dragging Fuuka along with him. "Yuuki-san, what's wrong?"

"There's something really bad out here, and we need to escape before it finds us. You'll know when it's around, trust me."

Thus they ran, hand in hand. Makoto followed Fuuka's directions through the maze, running ahead or summoning Janus to fight any shadows encountered along the way.

They ran down floor after floor. The random layout of Tartarus was working against Makoto that night: they still hadn't found a window. Another guardian room; another broken teleporter. Makoto was getting concerned. He couldn't risk summoning Janus much more at this stage without putting their only escape in jeopardy.

"We just need to keep moving. Keep going..." Makoto heard something.

"Y-Y-Yuuki... san?" They both heard it again. It was a sound Makoto had long ago learnt to fear. "What... what is that!? Yuuki-san!" Fuuka grabbed onto Makoto's arm, looking into his eyes with a terrified countenance. She was looking more shaken up than when she'd first woken up here.

"Where? Where is it!?"

"B-behind us! We need to go!" Makoto heeded her advice. and promptly sprinted off the other way.

"The exit?" They were headed towards a T-junction.

"Right!" This was most fortunate for them; for once they reached the turn, Makoto, looking left, saw the object of their fear. He had perhaps three seconds to react. Without thinking, he held his hand defensively in front of him, reeling Fuuka behind him with the other.

"MAKOTO YUUKI! SUMMON ME!" Makoto, though jolted, did so right away. Janus materialised just in time to take the blows signified by the explosions that resounded throughout the labyrinth. "Zan only affects matter. The Reaper's attacks are purely energy; you'll not be able to stop them. Run!" Makoto dashed off once again, leaving Janus behind. He couldn't see the state of Janus's front, nor did he want to. They made it to the stairs, the sound of a clashing of giants following them on the way.

Two shots had bounced off of his shoulder-guards. One had skimmed his side, leaving no mark. The rest had stricken true, and imparted their full force on Janus's armour, some leaving very noticeable dents. "O foul forsaken creature. You will not hinder us this unholy night." The Reaper snarled at him like a predatory animal. With a flick of its wrists, the cylinders of its revolvers popped out, releasing a putrid smoke. That was its only opening. Janus needed to move fast.

Ahead he ran, a tremor marking each colossal step. He pointed his golden armament in front of him and opened fire. The Reaper received two hits to its shoulder and arm before it dashed to the side and disappeared into another hallway. Janus made his way thither as fast as he could, but upon reaching the turn, he was met with a megido exploded in front of his helm. The blast was so powerful that Janus was sent flying backwards, landing on his back. He promptly righted himself, already sustaining more damage from the Reaper's vicious weapons. Janus covered as much as he could with his sword and LMG, but only two shots didn't make direct hits as he made another approach to the creature.

Knowing what it would do, Janus threw his greatsword to the Reaper's right, too soon to hit it, but still managing to stop its escape, having lodged itself horizontally into the wall, thus blocking the path. Janus took this opportunity to shoulder-tackle the Reaper into the opposite wall. Pressing it thereagainst, allowing no escape, Janus pressed the barrel of his gun to the Reaper's torso and unleashed the terrible barrage that followed. The Reaper tanked it all as it slipped its own gun into position to fire into Janus's arm making him drop his Reaper made use of this little time and began to charge a megidola. Janus sensing an unwinable situation, then dematerialised.

* * *

"God damn it!" Another plague of shadows blockaded Makoto's and Fuuka's way forward. "Stay here." Makoto ran ahead and began slicing away. He wasn't hit once by any attack. Fuuka thought the way he fought was incredible, or perhaps 'impossible' would be a better word. He moved like someone out of an action movie, at times seemingly ignoring the laws of physics.

As he finished off the last one, he heard a yelp and turned around. Fuuka ran and cowered behind him, grasping onto the back of his hoodie. A tiara chased after her, but made the mistake of coming within range of Makoto's sword.

"Let's keep going."

One floor later, "Makoto Yuuki." Janus returned in ethereal form yet again.

"Did you beat it?"

"We both sustained much damage. I was merely able to buy time," Janus reported as the group pressed on.

"You mean it's still alive? Will you be able to fight if it shows up again?"

"I will have to."

"Yuuki-san..." Fuuka was clearly out of breath. Makoto thought of a solution.

"Here, get on," he instructed, kneeling down with his back to her.

"What?"

"I'll carry you. We need to get out of here, so get on!" Fuuka was painfully slow to obey. Once she did, Makoto again took off, with Fuuka dictating the path like she were riding a beast. It would seem comical if their lives weren't in peril. As such, Makoto couldn't blame her for how tightly she was holding on. Battling this way would be infinitely more taxing; but fortunately, with Fuuka securely mounted on his back, Makoto could slip past most. Any groups of three or more, of which they encountered two along the way, were risky, however; and thus Makoto was forced to rely on a now beaten up Janus to take care of them. The more Janus was called out, the more exhausted Makoto felt. He was running out of energy fast this way. If this continued, he'd soon not be able to use zan, without which he could hardly have even come this far. He sincerely hoped an exit would appear soon.

"It's back!"

"Behind us?"

"Yes!" Makoto summoned Janus just as they rounded another corner.

"Keep him off us," he ordered before continuing on his way. Janus nodded to Makoto's back and stepped up to the corner. He reached his arm, which held his massive machine gun, around the corner and blindly opened fire down the hall. The frantic rattle of chains accompanied by a shrill hiss informed him that he'd hit his mark. He could hold it off here for some time, until he ran out of ammo.

Makoto was running more slowly now, much more. He panted as he ran haphazardly down another flight of stairs, almost trpping over himself near the end. "Yuuki-san, are you okay?"

"This can't go on forever..." was his response.

* * *

Janus heard a click. His gun was of no more use. His weapon too utilised energy rather than lead. With the weapon out of energy, he would have to rely on brute strength alone, but he still held the advantage. The Reaper would have to come to him. The rattling began anew, and it was getting louder.

* * *

Makoto's drrooping eyes opened wide with astonishment. A window! An escape! "Fuuka!" he exclaimed with a smile; but there was one problem.

"Yes?"

"...Get off." Slowly, Fuuka quietly dismounted. Makoto walked almost hesitantly to the window. Looking down, he made no attempt to count how many floors up they still were from the ground. Looking up...

"Yuuki-san?" Fuuka was concerned and confused. Makoto had sounded happy but a moment ago.

* * *

Janus swang his sword down like a hammer to the ground. On its way thitherward, it sliced effortlessly through the arm of the Reaper, trying to shoot round the corner. Its severed hand fell to the ground, revolver and all.

Not relenting, Janus raised his sword up and stabbed sideways. His still unseen foe shrieked in pain. Round the corner, Janus dropped his gun; reeled back his arm; and punched the Reaper's shrouded face; all the while, he jerked his sword in all directions, still plunged into the Reaper's chest.

The Reaper was knocked away and onto the ground. It lay there, still. Janus approached to make one final killing blow. The Reaper growled at him as he neared; and Janus, as he heard his sword once more, heard another noise. A hiss of energy, in the form of megidolaon. Janus etherealised just in time, before the Reaper could take him down with it.

* * *

"Makoto Yuuki." Janus returned.

"Janus, we have no time left. We need to get down there, now!"

"Thou canst not summon me," Janus blankly informed.

"What?"

"Thou hast not the strength to summon me again without collapsing, in which case, I would disappear regardless."

"Then... what do we do?" It was odd to see Makoto genuinely unsure of himself. It was a first for Fuuka. She didn't know what to say. She only guessed that the other partaker in the (in her eyes) one-sided conversation was the thing Makoto had been summoning all night. "How do we get down, Janus? The moon is full!"

"I can help! I can help!" sounded an enthusiastic voice. It was familiar.

"...How can you help?"

"Makoto Yuuki?"

"I'll give you all the energy you need; get you down safely, **and** help you for the rest of the year! All you gotta do is make the same deal with me as you've got with Shining Armour over there." Makoto looked to Janus.

"Makoto Yuuki, mark me. Do not heed the words that slither from that daemon's tongue. It wanteth something yet unspoke from thee."

"Aw, he's just being paranoid. All I want is to have fun with you, Makoto," spoke the daemon, with an appealing voice that seemed to convey an unspoken childish 'pleeeeaaaaase~'. Whatever it was playing at, Makoto couldn't let it distract him.

An idea came to him. "I still have enough energy to use zan."

"Art thou sure?"

"An object's momentum isn't relevant; only its mass," was Makoto's reply. "I've still enough to lift me and Fuuka, definitely." Makoto looked to Fuuka, who was somewhat perturbed by Makoto's talking to himself for so long. "Fuuka, listen. We might make it out eventually if we keep going to the stairs, but it'll take too long. Back home, every hour here spent is equivalent to an entire day." Fuuka's eyes widened in disbelief and shock. Then she's been gone for days? Were... No, probably no one was worried about her.

Makoto didn't have time for this. "Listen, Fuuka! There are people looking for both of us; and if we don't get out of here, they're going to die! I promise you that we'll be fine, but I need you to trust me and come with me right now." He held his hand out to her yet again.

Fuuka looked at his hand, and then into Makoto's eyes. They were sharply focused, as if unaware of how fatigued the rest of his body looked. They were eyes that wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. They didn't ask; commanded. "I trust you, Yuuki-san..." She grasped his hand; and then squeaked as Makoto pulled her towards him, caught her in a secure embrace, and leapt out the window.

They were falling. They were falling they were falling they were falling! The ground was getting closer with no sign of slowing down. Fuuka shut her eyes and grabbed Makoto as tightly as she could until they finally stopped, right above the ground. They did collide thereafter, though. Makoto took the fall with Fuuka above him.

"Yuuki-san?" she called. She was given no response. "Yuuki-san!" She repositioned herself to see his face. His eyes were closed. His arms fell limply off of her back; but he was still breathing, at least.

"Who's there!?" Fuuka heard. She didn't look around, for the voice had come from her own head.

"H-hello?" she tried to respond.

"Yamagishi-san?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: W00t! Another chapter successfully added! and a staggering five reviews and over one thousand views last chapter! D: Thank you all so much! I love every one of you! ^^/
> 
> I sincerely hope you enjoyed this latest chapter, and await all comments, of both the kind and un-such sort!
> 
> Next chapter, we'll find out what SEES was doing during the later part of this last chapter; and we'll see more of the new daemon! Until then!


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